Lightning to the Symphonia
by Afrodestinyfan
Summary: Self-insert. Dean is a boy who woke up at a young age near Iselia. The locals found him and raised him as one of them. Having learnt how to fight with a sword and pocessing lightning and wind magic, what else can the boy do but go on The Journey of Regeneration?
1. Before the journey begins

**Hey there everyone and welcome my very first fanfiction. I started writing this fanfiction after reading a very addicting fanfiction, another self-insert fanfiction, and got inspired by it to write my own Tales of Symphonia self-insert fanfiction.**

**I hope you all will enjoy this story of me. This chapter will take place before the story begins. I had to improve a lot and maybe many things are not in sync with the original Tales of Symphonia. **

**Feel free to write any reviews or be a grammar nazi and point out every mistake you find. English isn't my native language after all.**

**So please enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symponia**

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><p>"Ugh…" a boy moaned. He was lying half-conscience on the ground. His eyes were closed and he could feel the hard ground beneath him. It was probably evening, as he could feel a bit of light falling on his eyes and it was getting cold. The boy couldn't move. His mind was blank and he was in pain.<p>

"Hey. I see something lying on the ground." he could hear a girl say. After a while he heard footsteps getting closer. "It's a boy! A boy is lying down on the ground. It looks like he's hurt." The girl sounded excited at first, but it went away as she saw the boy wasn't moving.

"Are you okay?" He could hear a man say. The boy led out another moan. He couldn't speak even if he wanted to. "Don't be scared. I'll carry you someplace safe." the man said. The boy got lifted up in strong arms.

"I wonder what his name is?" the girl asked out loud. "Is he going to be okay?"

"Don't worry sweetheart. The wounds don't look bad. I'm sure some rest will do him good. I just hope he doesn't get a fever. He's lucky we found him this close to the village." After that there was silence. The boy fell unconscious in the man's arms.

The boy woke up. He opened up a house and he saw he was inside a house. The bed he was lying in felt hard, but it was way more comfortable than the ground. He looked around the room with his eyes. The whole house was made of wood. There wasn't much furniture in this room and the only closet that was in the room looked half rotten. The boy tried to move, but he couldn't. His mouth was dry and he was really thirsty. He mustered all his strength, but the result was that he could move his fingers a little bit. Sleep came over him again. The next time the boy woke up a girl was sitting on the bed looking at him. The girl had blond hair that almost reached to her shoulders. She had clear blue eyes which almost seemed to look right into the soul. She was wearing some kind of white dress with weird blue patterns on it. The sleeves of the 'dress' reached to her hands. She gasped as she noticed the boy was awake.

"Water" the boy weakly said. The thirst was unbearable.

"Hold on a second. I'll go and get some." The girl quickly walked out of the room. As he waited the boy looked around the room again. It was the same room, but now there was sunlight shining through the window. The girl reappeared with a glass of water. She almost tripped, but she luckily regained her balance. The boy tried to get up to sit, but he still couldn't. He even felt weaker than the last time he woke up. "Don't force yourself. Just open your mouth a bit and I'll give it to you bit by bit." The girl looked concerned at the boy. With only a bit of water a time the girl let the boy drink the water. Although she looked kind of clumsy at first, she was a natural at this. The boy wondered if she had done this kind of thing before.

"Thank you." the boy said after the glass was empty. His voice was still weak, but at least he could now speak without too much effort.

"You're welcome." the blond girl said with a smile. "Can I have your name?" Her voice was filled with curiosity. The question had been on her lips for a long time.

"My name?" The boy asked himself as he said it out loud. "My name… I think it is Dean."

"Dean huh? That's a nice name. My name is Colette." She girl smiled again, happy now that she knew his name.

"How old are you Dean?" The girl continued to ask.

"I don't know. My mind feels hazy and numb. My name is the only thing that comes to mind."

"Oh wait. I should have told Frank that you woke up. I had forgotten about that. I'll be back in a moment." The girl quickly started to walk away.

"Please wait." Colette stopped. "Can you bring me some more water please. I'm still really thirsty."

"Sure." And with that she walked away. Dean tried to move again. Getting up to sit was impossible, but he did manage to turn his head a bit. He looked around the room once more. His name was the only thing he knew and the rest of his memories weren't around. He could think more clearly right now and he wondered where he was and what had happened. As he looked around the room some more, more and more questions started popping up in his mind. He thought real hard and tried to remember something, but it was all in vain. Dean sighed as he tried to clear his head. He hoped answers to his questions would come soon. At that moment a blond short-haired man came into the room.

"Ah, you are finally awake. We feared that you would never wake up again. We almost lost all hope and were discussing what we would do with you. Luckily you woke up."

"How long was I asleep then? I remember waking up one time before and I was already in this room, but I fell asleep a few moments after I had woken up." Dean noticed that his voice had once again became hoarse. "Excuse me. Can I have some water first before we talk some more?"

"Of course you can." Frank said. Dean had seen that Colette had filled the glass with water again and was now looking with an asking face if she could help him again. Seeing his face she picked up the glass of water and let him drink it bit by bit.

"Thank you again Colette." Dean said after the glass was empty again.

"I know you just woke up and that you are really weak, but can I ask you how you got here? Colette and I found you just outside the village."

"I don't know. I remember that you found me, but besides my name I can't remember a thing. I was hoping you could have answered the same question, but it seems that is not the case."

"Well, you don't look much older than Colette, but you sure sound like you're older. You don't remember anything?" The boy shook his head. "I see. Well, if you remember anything let us know. For now you can rest as much as you want. This is a small village and everybody knows each other. We don't have much, but you're welcome here to stay."

"Thank you sir that is most generous."

"Now don't call me sir. I'm just a simple man. Call me Frank. Everybody does that."

"Then thank you Frank." Dean let out a yawn.

"It seems you're still very tired. Sleep. You need it."

"Can I stay?" Colette asked Frank. She looked at the man with an innocent face.

"All right then, but don't force anything on the boy and let him sleep." Frank said. The blond girl smiled.

"Yay. Thank you Frank." The man then walked away with a look on his face questioning whether he had decided the right thing.

"So Colette was it?" The girl happily nodded. "Can you tell me a bit about yourself and this village? I don't feel so sleepy yet."

"Well, you already know my name. I'm six years old. I'm the Chosen who will regenerate the world after I grow up."

"Wait what? Regenerate the world? Why would you need to do such a thing? Is something wrong with the world?" The idea that a planet would die was absurd to the mind of Dean. Even if he couldn't remember anything the things this girl just said sounded crazy.

"I guess you really don't remember anything, do you? I just know what Frank and Phaidra told me. A long time ago there was a war. This war used up all the mana in the world and the Great Tree, the source of all mana died. The Goddess Martel went to the heavens, because she was sad that the tree was dead. The Chosen of Regeneration must wake the Goddess Martel. If the Chosen One doesn't do this, the world will die." Colette tried to explain in her own words. Now Dean had even more questions that he wished to be answered, but he also knew he had to wait. Colette couldn't possibly know.

"So there was a great war and now there is almost no mana, right?" The blond girl nodded. "So what is mana?"

"You don't know what mana is?" Dean shook his head slowly. "Well, I don't know really, but everything has mana you know. The trees, the animals, the monsters and even you and I. Without mana we can't live. Without mana magic isn't possible as well."

"Wait magic? You mean creating fire from nothing? That kind of magic?"

"Yes, but all kind of things are possible with magic. Even healing people is possible with magic."

"Wow, that sounds fantastic! Can everyone do magic?"

"No. I wish that was true, but only elves and half-elves can do magic. I've heard that some humans can do magic. Oh yeah, angels can do magic as well."

"Angels? Messengers from Heaven? They exist?"

"Yep. They say the Chosen One was born from angels." Colette looked kind of sad when she said this.

"So, since that you're the Chosen. You mean that you're a child of the angels?" Disbelief could be heard from the voice of Dean.

"That's what they say. It's kind of the reason I don't call Frank my dad."

"I don't understand. You're the child of angels and you must wake the Goddess? Why can't the angels themselves wake the Goddess?"

"I don't know. Nobody ever asks these kind of questions. The prophecy tells us that only the Chosen One can wake the Goddess. Nobody ever questions why that is so."

"I see. Sorry for asking such a thing. It all sounds so weird to me."

"No I'm sorry that I can't answer your questions. It makes me kind of wonder why myself."

"Don't be silly Colette. You're really helping me. You know a lot about this kind of stuff."

"Well, I'm the Chosen One. I'm supposed to know these kind of things." Deal yawned again. Hearing all those things made him sleepy again. "Feeling sleepy again?" Dean slowly nodded. "Aw. That's too bad. I wanted to talk to you some more." The girl really seemed disappointed.

"Don't be sad. Tomorrow is another day. I may have to ask you to help me drink again. I'm sorry I can't do such a thing on my own."

"Oh no, I'm sorry for keeping you awake. Good night Dean."

"Good night Colette." Sleep came as soon as the blond girl walked out of the room. Strange dreams full of monsters haunted the boy that night, but at the end of the dream Colette appeared as an angel and she chased the monsters away. She looked so beautiful the desire to protect her came over Dean in his dream. Even as he woke up this feeling remained. It was night when Dean woke up. Dean then decided that he wanted to come along with Colette on her journey of regeneration. As this thought remained in his head he peacefully fell back to sleep.

The next morning Dean was feeling a lot better. He noticed that this time he had the strength to sit up in bed. All his muscles felt stiff and sore. He slowly tried to move all his arms and legs one at a time. Moving them felt heavy, but he could at least move them. A chill then ran over him. He noticed that the window was open. Someone must have opened it as he was still sleeping. He could hear the birds singing from inside. As he closed his eyes to enjoy the peace an older woman walked into the room.

"Ah, you're awake. You must be Dean. I haven't introduced myself to you yet. I'm Phaidra." The older woman smiled as she spoke. She was wearing a simple robe which had some decorations on it. It looked like a robe for a priestess.

"Thank you for all the things you have done. If Frank and Colette hadn't found me, I don't know whether I would still be alive right now."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that. The Goddess Martel has taught us to help others in need. We all live here by the teaching. We're happy to help you. In such a small village you learn to help each other and live in harmony."

"Well, I still want to thank you."

"Do you remember anything? Frank told me you have amnesia." Dean shook his head.

"I'm afraid not. Colette told me a lot yesterday. About the Great War, about the journey of Regeneration and that she was the Chosen One who needed to wake up the Goddess one day. She also told me about mana. I have to say nothing of it sounded familiar."

"Well, don't worry too much about your memory. You should focus on recovering first. Your memories will come after that. Are you hungry?" Dean nodded to this. He hadn't noticed before, but he felt hungry as the older woman asked him this. "Then I'll make you some soup. After that you should rest a bit more." Dean wanted to go out of bed, but he didn't want to go against the wishes of this kind woman. So he stayed in bed and waited. He first listened to the birds, but after a while he was getting bored. Luckily for him Phaidra brought him the soup. "The soup is still hot, so you should let it cool first. You don't want to burn your mouth." Dean just nodded to this. He blew the stew away from the bowl of soup to pass the time. After the soup was cooled off a bit Dean began eating it. It was delicious. He had to resist the urge to eat really fast. The soup was still hot, so he couldn't do that. After the bowl was empty Dean still wanted more. Phaidra had just watched him eat with a smile on her face.

"Can I have some more?" Dean almost didn't dare to ask.

"Ho ho ho." The laughed in a weird way. "Although I admire your appetite, you should take it easy. Your body is still recovering. If you eat too much, you'll regret it later."

"I guess so. I don't really know. I guess you know much more about these things than I do."

"You amuse me boy. You talk and act like an adult, but you look like a boy. I've never seen someone like you." The woman kept smiling at the boy.

"I don't know whether that was a compliment or an insult…" The boy looked questioned at the behaviour of the older woman. "But thanks for the soup. It was really good." Dean smiled back at the woman.

"Oh Colette has been asking all time when you would wake up. The girl doesn't have many friends of her age. I guess that's the burden that comes with being the Chosen."

"But she's such a sweet girl. I can't imagine that someone like her can't make any friends. She's so kind." Dean honestly answered.

"Oh my. Do you already have a crush on that girl boy?" At that remark Dean had to blush. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

"I don't know… She was just so kind to me yesterday. Wait, I didn't sleep for another three days did I?" Panic seemed to overtake the boy.

"Oh I was just teasing you boy. No, you can relax. It is the afternoon now." Dean relaxed again. "I'll see if I can find Colette. You be good to her now."

"I will." And with that Phaidra left the room. Dean didn't feel tired at all anymore. He felt awake and he really wanted to explore the house and the rest of the village. He pushed himself so that he could sit at the side of the bed. He then carefully tried to stand up. After a few attempt he managed to get up. It was really hard and he was already breathing very hard.

"Wow, you can stand already?" Dean looked up. Colette was standing by the door opening.

"Just barely. I'm supposed to be resting right now, but I couldn't resist the urge to go and explore the house and the village. I wanted to surprise you so we could walk around in the village instead of just sitting on the bed."

"Oh you shouldn't try so hard just for me. I'm fine with sitting on the bed and talking about things."

"Don't you want to play outside with the other children?"

"No no no, I'd rather talk with you" Colette let out a giggle. Dean noticed that this giggle sounded a bit forced. She was probably lying. She was trying not to upset him he thought.

"If that is what you want. Can you help me with something?"

"Sure. What do you want help with?"

"Can you help me walk around the house? I can just stand. We don't need to go downstairs. That would be too dangerous for now, but can I at least see the rest of the upper floor?"

"I don't mind. Although the rest of the house is the same as this room."

"I don't care. I just want to walk around for a while, even if it is really hard to do so." And so Colette helped Dean walk around. He was leaning a bit on her shoulder in case he should lose balance. Step by step they moved around the upper floor of the house. Colette was right. The rest of the house looked the same. It all looked so poor. Dean was surprised by this. He wondered whether they had enough to eat. The state of the house didn't let him feel better. Dean had to focus on the walking all the time. When they got back to the room where he had been sleeping he was breathing really hard. Colette let him sit down slowly. She then sat beside him. She looked like she didn't mind helping him.

"Thank you." Dean said as he was resting. "I never thought that walking could be that exhausting." Colette let out a giggle as he said that.

"You've been sleeping for three days straight. It would be strange if you could just walk around like nothing happened."

"You're right."

"So, is there anything you want to talk about?"

"Well, I can't really talk about myself since I can't remember anything yet. Last time you told me that monsters live in this world."

"Yeah. That's why it is really dangerous to go outside the village. I go to temple every day to study the angelic language. The priests have to come and guide me to the temple every day, because there could be even monsters lurking on the way to the temple. It is not that far away, but it is still dangerous."

"Aren't you afraid that the monsters might attack the village?"

"Well, we do keep guards at the entrances of the village. I don't think they are there for nothing, but at least we don't have to be afraid of any Desians attacking us."

"Desians? What are Desians?"

"It's kind of hard to explain. They are people in uniform. They bring terror and fear to the world of Sylvarant. They attack the other villages and cities in Sylvarant from time to time and they keep the humans in what we call human ranches. They let the humans push boulders and they whip them from time to time."

"That's horrible. Can't the people fight back?"

"They try to. The Desians have much better weapons and can use magic. The people don't stand any chance against them. Iselia has a non-agression treaty with the Desians, because the Chosen One lives here."

"Because you live here? Strange. Do they gain anything after you have regenerated the world?"

"What do you mean?" Colette looked surprised now.

"What happens with the Desians after the regeneration of the World? And Sylvarant is the name of the world?" Colette nodded her head to the last questions and then started to think.

"I think the Goddess will make all the bad people go away. I think the Desians are bad people, so I think the Goddess Martel will chase them away."

"Strange…" Dean said.

"Why do you ask?"

"Nothing you should worry about. There are just some things that don't make sense to me at this moment. I think that will go away after a while." There was silence for a while. The boy was wondering about a lot of things in the meantime. Dean meant what he had said. The Desians protect the Chosen, but they will be chased away after the world is regenerated. What do they gain from it? If he were part of the Desians, he would kill the Chosen One. If the Chosen One dies, they wouldn't be chased away. Although, if they did that, Sylvarant would die. Nobody can live in a dead world, so if they instead protected the Chosen and made sure the world wouldn't die, this world would be saved. They could try and defeat the angels and the Goddess if the world was regenerated. That would make sense. But what about those human ranches. Why would they attack humans and keep them in ranches. It all seemed so complicated. Dean decided that now wasn't the time to worry about these things. "So, what do you want to do?" Dean asked after thinking about those things.

"I don't know. Normally I go to temple and study the angelic language. I play by myself and try to help Frank and Phaidra with all kind of things. The other kids avoid me because I'm the Chosen. I guess they don't know how to act around me." There was that forced giggle again. "But I don't mind. There is one boy. His name is Lloyd. He is always wearing a red suit and he is carrying two wooden swords with him all the time. He also has a pretty gem on his hand. He always plays with me, but he lives outside the village with his dad, so he has to leave on time before it gets dark. His dad is a dwarf. Isn't that so cool?" Colette smiled the whole time she was talking about this Lloyd. She really seemed to like this kid. Dean was glad that at least someone would play with her. "Oh yeah. A little while ago a woman and a kid came to this village. She's an elf and really smart. She is going to become the teacher of this village. The last teacher of this village died of sickness. We were really sad about that. We also had nobody else who wanted to be teacher. We're really glad that she came."

"That's wonderful. Is she the mother of the kid?"

"No, it seems that kid is her brother. Her name is Raine by the way and the name of the boy is Genis."

"I hope we can be friends with the boy when he grows up. Maybe by learning things I can remember my memories."

"Oh, that would be great. I have an idea! I'll invite Lloyd to meet you."

"That's a good idea. It's always better to have more friends."

"Does that mean you don't mind being my friend?"

"I thought we were already friends. I mean, you helped me with so many things already. I totally want to be you friend."

"You really mean that?" The girl started to get tears in her eyes.

"Are you hurt? Why are you crying?" Dean was startled by the behaviour of the blond girl.

"No. It's just that I'm so happy. I'm sorry for crying." The girl wiped away her tears. "I know. I'm trying to learn to protect myself. I've been learning to fight with these rings called chakrams. I'll show you." The girl almost tripped as she ran out of the room. She looked really happy.

The rest of the day passed really quick. Colette showed her 'skill' with the chakrams. Dean was happy the rings were made of wood. One of the rings had accidentally flown against his head. If they were sharper or made out of metal he wouldn't have been so lucky. The girl couldn't stop apologising after it had happened that it was kind of funny. Dean forgave her as soon as it had happened. Although she had scared him. After that they had talked about all kind of things. Colette looked really cheerful and Dean started to really wonder whether he was developing some kind of crush for this kind girl. When it was dinner time Frank helped Dean with walking down the stairs. During the day his strength had returned a bit more. He and Colette talked what they had done that day during dinner. Frank and Phaidra looked really happy as they saw that Colette had made a friend. After dinner Dean started to feel asleep. Frank had to carry him up the stairs. The boy fell asleep with a smile on his face.

"Good morning." A voice called. Dean opened up his eyes. Frank was standing in the room.

"A good morning indeed." Dean replied. His dreams had been pleasant and he felt that the day smiled upon him.

"How are you feeling? I was really surprised that you were able to walk yesterday. We were afraid it would take a long before that would be possible." Dean sat up. He noticed that this almost cost him no effort. He then stood up which went perfect. Dean smiled as he carefully tried to walk. "Do overdo it." Frank warned him.

"I'm feeling really good. I feel like I'm walking just like before." Being able to walk again really felt great.

"Like before? Have your memories returned then?" Frank asked with a bit of surprise in his voice. He couldn't believe that the boy was already walking around like it was nothing. Dean tried to remember, but nothing came. His head felt like a void. He could tell whether something sounded familiar, strange of weird just fine, but the real fragments of memories weren't there.

"No, they don't seem to be there. I don't know. Maybe my body remembers, but my mind doesn't. It feels like there is one big void in my head. I have no idea why I am able to speak like this. It feels like I know things, but I can't remember anything. Like it is there and I only need grasp my hand and take it, but every time I do just that there is nothing. It feels like something is withholding me from remembering."

"I don't follow what you're saying Dean. You really talk like an adult. You worry too much about it. They will return" Frank was confident in what he was saying. Dean meant what he had said. He felt that he was able to remember everything, but that something was withholding him in doing so. For now, he had no other explanation. "Do you want some breakfast?" Frank asked after a while.

"Sounds great." Together they walked down the stairs. The rest was already sitting at the table. Colette smiled at Dean and waved, Dean waved and smiled back. Before they began to eat they said prayers to the Goddess Martel, thanking her for the food.

"Praying like that felt familiar." Dean said after the prayer was said.

"Maybe you used to live with priests before." Colette said.

"Maybe…" Dean started to eat. The breakfast was a piece of bread and some jam on it. It seemed like they didn't have more than this.

"I'm sorry we don't have more than this, but I'm afraid it is like this everyone. These are hard times and everybody has it rough. Most of the people can't even have three meals a day anymore. I wanted to talk about your future today." Frank said with a stiff voice. It was clear that he was nervous.

"That's okay. I don't mind helping out where I can. As long as I can stay in this village, I'm okay with everything."

"Don't worry. You won't have to leave the village, but I'm afraid we can't take you in this house. It is of the greatest importance that Colette, the Chosen One, will eat well. We'd love to take you in, but as things stand now, we cannot." Phaidra continued were Frank left off.

"Are things really that bad?" Dean asked in return.

"They are. With each year we notice that the crops of the land give us less. The same crops, the same land, but each year the amount of food the land produces is less. The mana is slowly leaving this land. I'm afraid that in about twenty years it will all be gone. We can only hope the Oracle will come soon. I don't like to send Colette on such a dangerous journey, but we will make sure she will be well protected. We don't have a choice. The world is dying." Phaidra said all of this with a heavy voice, like a burden was on her shoulders.

"That soon? I understand, but what will happen to me?" Dean asked. He wasn't surprised that he couldn't stay here. He had hoped we could. He was disappointed.

"There is a couple in the village, named Paul and Linda Woods. They are unable to have children on their own. They wish to raise you as their own. We were planning on introducing you today. Although we have some advice."

"Some advice for me?"

"Yes. They were told that a young child was found. However your manner of speaking is that of an adult. Most people would find such manner of speaking from such a child a bit frightening."

"I see. So you want me to speak like someone of my age. I could try that. Shall we practise now?"

"Very well. Just pretend that I'm someone from the village who doesn't know you." Dean nodded. "So you are Dean. Can you tell me a bit about yourself?"

"Well, my name is Dean. I can't really remember anything about myself, but I was with Phaidra, Frank and Colette and they were so kind. I wish everyone in the village is so kind. Oh yeah, Phaidra made me some soup and it taste really good." Dean made sure his voice sounded more childish.

"Wow, you sound like a total different person Dean. How do you do that?" Colette asked cheerfully.

"Thank you Colette. Do you really want to know. I try and imitate you. You always sound so happy. I was trying to mimic that."

"Oh really?"

"I hope you don't mind Colette."

"Oh no. If I can help you that makes me really happy." Dean looked at Colette and only found honesty in her words and her expression. He didn't want that her innocence would fade away at that moment.

"Can I at least talk like I want to when I'm around you? It is really tiring to talk like something that you aren't."

"Of course you can Dean. We don't know you any other way. You don't have to talk like that you know. I'm just afraid the people don't know how to act around you if you do talk like that." Frank explained.

"I can imagine that. What about you? Don't you find it hard to talk to me?"

"Oh, we like to accept people as they are. Besides, I enjoy talking to you." Phaidra said to Dean.

"Thank you. That means a lot to me. What about you Colette?"

"You're my friend Dean. You don't have to pretend to be someone you're not." Dean could only feel gratitude.

"I'll never forget what you all did for me."

"Oh, don't make it sound like this is goodbye. This is a small village. You are always welcome here."

"Now that we are finished with breakfast. Shall we take a look around the village?"

"Right now? Really? I was afraid you wouldn't ask?" Dean answered excited.

"I see you can be excited without faking it as well." Phaidra teased Dean.

"It isn't really exciting to stay in the same room the whole time you know." Dean answered. Colette took Dean by the hand. Phaidra said she had to go to the temple and left in a different direction. We first walked around the village. Most of the village was of course made out of the houses where the people lived. Almost all the houses looked the same. Most of the houses had a small, but some of them didn't. There were two entrances to the village. One on the south side and one on the north side. On the north of the village was the school building. Classes hadn't started yet, but would the next day. They would meet the teacher after the walk around the village. The building biggest next to the school building was the mayor's house. They met the mayor while walking around. He was a broad man with a look of authority in his eyes. He wasn't paying them attention. He seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. In the middle of the village there was a shop which sold several items. You could also buy bread from the bakery and meat from the butcher there. It was more convenient for the people to buy their groceries at one shop. Besides, only a few people could afford bread and meat. Almost all the people in the village were farmers. They lived off their own harvest and they traded among themselves. Because of this, the shop in the village wasn't open the whole day. Only for two hours in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon on a Saturday. After they had seen the whole village they went to a house in the southeast of the village. In front of the house a man and a woman were standing, holding each other's hands. They were smiling, but Dean could tell that they were nervous. They were probably his new 'parents'.

"Hello there Paul and Linda." Frank said as they came closer. "It's such a lovely day, isn't it?"

"Hey there Frank. Yes it is." the woman called Linda answered. She was a head shorter than her husband. She had long brown hair and also brown eyes. She was wearing a simple dress. The man called Paul was wearing brown pants and a simple shirt. The clothes were dirty and were probably the clothes he wore while working on the land. "Oh my. Those two look cute together. You must be Dean." The woman now addressed Dean.

"Yes madam." Dean just plainly answered not knowing what to say. "Um… Frank told me I couldn't live with them." Dean said with a sad voice. "I'm still looking for a place to stay."

"Well Dean. My wife and I can't have babies. Our house is really empty and quiet. We were hoping you would like to live with us?" Paul said with a kind voice.

"I can stay with you? But I don't know you. It's not that I don't want to, but you want me to live with you even though we just met?"

"Are you afraid?"

"No. I'm not afraid. I'm a big boy, but what if you don't like me?" Dean tried to sound really nervous and uncertain, although he didn't even had to try. He was feeling really nervous. These people would be really kind or really did have a big wish to have children if they were willing to take him in just like that.

"Well, it might be strange at first, but why don't we try to get along? We're no scary monsters." Linda was holding out her hand to Dean. Appearing nervous, Dean slowly reached out his hand to Linda. She smiled as she took his hand.

"Do you have anything that is still at the house of Frank?" Paul then asked Dean.

"Um… No. All I have is the clothes I am wearing. I don't have any memories. I don't even know if these clothes are mine."

"They are clothes of mine when I was a child. I always thought that they would come in handy one day. You can keep them Dean."

"Thank you Frank. For everything." Dean was really getting emotional right now. He had to fight back tears. It was kind of frightening moving to people he didn't know and leaving people from whom he knew were really nice people.

"Bye Dean." said Colette. "I hope you will come over to play again."

"I will!" Dean said. With that Colette and Frank left and Dean was left with two people who he didn't know at all. He kept waving at Colette and she kept looking back at him, still smiling but also fighting back tears. For such a young girl, she knew what was going on.

"Come on Dean. Let's take a look around in your new room." Linda pulled Dean inside. "Don't be afraid now. This is going to be your new house." Dean looked forward and entered his new house. The inside of the house looked even more poor than the house in which Frank, Phaidra and Colette lived. The house also had only one floor. The living room and kitchen were in the same room. There was one toilet, which was a seat with a hole in it. The door was shut close so the smell wouldn't escape. There were two bedrooms. The largest one was the bedroom of Paul and Linda. The other one was Dean's new room. The room looked almost exact the same as the room where he had slept in the other house. The difference about it was that Paul and Linda had painted the room with a blue colour. It was the only room in the house which was painted. Dean could still smell the paint. He realised that they had painted it for him to make him feel more at ease.

"How do you like your new room?" Linda asked Dean.

"The walls are pretty. I like it. It's prettier than the room I was staying before." At this the couple smiled even more.

"We're glad you like it. We want you feel at home."

"But it kind of smells. Will the smell stay? I don't like it." Dean said honestly like any other child of his age would say.

"I guess it does smell, but that will go away with time." Paul tried to reassure the boy. "Have you met the new teacher yet?" Dean shook his head.

"I wanted to meet her. She must be really smart. I heard that she's an elf. I've never met an elf before."

"Do you want to go together with us? If you want to we can go right now." Dean nodded happily after they asked that. They went to the west of the village. They heard some crying from inside when they came close to the house. Paul knocked on the door.

"Just a moment. I'll be there shortly." They heard a woman say. After a while the crying stopped. The door opened then. A woman with a bit messy silver hair which reached to her shoulders and sea blue eyes was standing at the door. She was wearing dark pants with white boots and a simple white blouse. She looked like a beautiful young woman. "Yes? What can I help you with?"

"We're sorry for bothering you. We heard you were the new teacher of this small village and we came to say hello."

"Ah, the mayor told a boy who suffered from amnesia would come to meet me in advance before I started teaching tomorrow. I just thought he said that Frank and Phaidra would bring him. They were here shortly. I got the chance to meet the Chosen One."

"Well, my wife and I have decided to take in. Our house was getting too quiet anyway." Dean was just listening while the adults were talking. They treating him like a boy who really didn't understand what was going on. He got bored with waiting before his new teacher would address him and was trying to look inside the house through the door, although he couldn't see much.

"So you must be Dean." The beautiful woman finally said something to Dean. Dean had forgotten where he has for a short while so he was startled a bit.

"Yes, that is my name. It's a pleasure to meet you madam." Dean said as he regained his composure.

"I'll be your teacher from tomorrow on. I know you don't remember anything, but that doesn't mean you can slack off. I expect you to work really hard in order to catch up with the older kids in class." She seemed like a kind person, but also like a strict teacher who respected hard work. Dean had a feeling they would be able to get along just fine.

"I will do my best. Excuse me, but may I have your name?"

"Oh my, I forgot to introduce myself now did I? My name is Raine, but you will be calling me Professor Sage from now on."

"Yes professor." The professor now addressed Paul and Linda again.

"I'm really looking forward to start teaching tomorrow. The state of the school building looks fine as well. I just have one problem. I don't know what to do with my little brother Genis. I can't take him to class with me, but I can't leave him at home as well. As things stand now I won't be able to teach."

"If you don't mind, I can look after your brother while you teach." Linda then offered.

"You would do such a thing for me?" The professor was surprised by this offer.

"I just love kids, no matter how old they are. It would be my pleasure to look after your little brother."

"I don't know how to thank you."

"Well, there is one thing." Paul then said. Both the professor and his wife looked at him. "We're kind of short on money. We don't know if we can pay for the education fees. Could you please teach Dean in return of us looking after your brother? When your brother is old enough himself to go to school we hope to have saved a bit more money."

"It's a deal then." The professor said. "Although I don't need much money to live anyway. I wouldn't mind teaching a student of mine for education. Education is too important to miss." With that they said their goodbyes and went back home. Paul went back to the land to work after grabbing a snack while his wife wasn't looking. Dean offered to help Linda to help in the house. During the cleaning Dean learned that Linda had had an accident at a young age. She had barely survived, but she had paid a great price. She wouldn't be able to bear any children on her own. She went and bit emotional when telling and started to hug Dean out of nowhere. Dean hugged his new mother back, knowing that she needed this hug at that moment. After she was done with telling there was no more talking. Linda seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. After a while Dean asked if he could check if Colette could play with him. Wanting not to take away the happiness of her new 'son' Linda agreed, but Dean had to make sure he would be back before dinner. Luckily for Dean Colette was home. The girl was really happy to see him, even though they had seen each other before the same day. Dean felt the same. It felt really awkward to just move in with Paul and Linda. Dean did already like them. Colette and Dean played for the rest of the day until Phaidra sent him back home. At his new home Dean noticed that it wasn't a problem to act like someone of his own age. The day passed quickly.

"Wake up Dean." Linda said to the boy.

"Good morning mom." Dean said without realising what he had just said.

"What did you just call me?" Linda asked. She was really surprised to hear such a thing.

"I guess I called you mom… Is it okay if I call you mom?" While he was asking this the woman who he was living with began to cry. "I won't if you don't me to." Dean was startled by this sight.

"No, I'm just so happy. You have no idea how I've longed for someone to call me that. Oh Dean, I would love it if you called me 'mom'." Dean started to get dressed. Linda had given him something to wear during night time. It was a bit too big for Dean, but he didn't mind. The love these people had given him from the start was overwhelming. It was because of their love that he had called Linda 'mom' without realising it.

"Is everything alright honey?" He could hear Paul ask from the living room.

"Oh darling you won't believe this. Dean called me 'mom'."

"Is that true Dean? You don't have to force yourself to call her that." Paul was happy for his wife, but was still concerned for the boy.

"No, I called her like that without realising it. You two make me feel at home so much."

"We're happy to hear to say you such a thing. Now hurry up and eat your breakfast. The professor will be here shortly. She will be dropping of her little brother. I have to go now. I see you two at supper tonight." Dean wasn't really hungry that morning, but he ate anyhow. He was kind of nervous about his first school day. Right when he had finished his breakfast someone knocked at the door and entered. It was the professor.

"Thank you again for helping me out." The professor said to Linda. She handed her a child with the same hair and eye colour as the professor. "Come along now Dean." Dean hopped off his chair and went along with the silver haired woman.

"You be good now." He could hear Linda say.

"I will mom!" Dean answered back. When the professor and Dean arrived at the school building there wasn't anyone yet. Dean decided to help the professor with setting things right before class started. After they were ready the other children dropped in one by one. The age difference between the children was big. Colette entered the building as one of the first and immediately started to sit next to Dean. Dean didn't mind this at all. The last one who came in was a boy dressed in red. Next to the boy was a short broad, muscled man with a beard. Colette waved at the boy in red and the boy waved back.

"Who is he?" Dean asked Colette.

"Oh that's Lloyd. I told you about him before, didn't I? He lives outside the village. That's his dad. His name is Dirk and he's a dwarf."

"So that's how a dwarf looks like. He looks friendly."

"Oh Dirk is really nice."

"Please everyone sit down. Class is about to begin." The professor said out loud. The boy named Lloyd sat on the other side of Colette. They smiled at each other, but didn't talk. They didn't want to make the professor angry already. The professor started class by introducing herself and asked everyone to do the same. After the introduction round was over class started. Dean paid attention really well, because almost all the things were new for him. He noticed that the other kids weren't paying that much attention. They probably already knew all these things. The professor sometimes asked the children some questions. All the kids knew the answers, except for Lloyd. He always kind of mixed things together. The professor sighed every time Lloyd failed to answer a question. It seemed that he would be the problem child of the class. Dean realised that the professor hadn't asked him a question yet. Only after they had begun with the basics of maths did she ask Dean a simple question. Dean had to think for a while, but was able to come up with the right answer. The professor smiled at him when he answered the right question. Before class ended they professor asked everyone what they wanted to do when they grow up. Dean wasn't really paying attention to this. He had been paying attention the whole day and now his concentration just slipped away. When he heard the voice of Colette his attention went back to class.

"Well, I just want to do my best on the Journey of Regeneration. I will do my best as playing out my role as the Chosen One."

"That's really nice Colette. Just one more question. If you didn't have to go on the journey, what would you want to do then?"

"I don't really know. Maybe I'll open up a shop where I can sell pets to people. I just love dogs. They are so cute." The girl smiled at the thought of this.

"Now then. Lloyd Irving, what do you want to do?"

"Me? I wanna grow up and work like a crafts man just like my dad. He can make really cool things." The boy said with a big smile on his face.

"Interesting. What about you Dean? Do you know what you want to do when you grow up?" The professor now asked Dean. Dean hadn't thought about it at all. He started to panic a bit. However, he remembered his time with Colette just then and found his answer.

"I want to go along on the Journey of Regeneration and protect Colette. I can also see the world like that. I hope that will help me regain my memories."

"I'm afraid that will be a bit difficult Dean. The Journey of Regeneration is really dangerous. You need to be really strong to be able to go along on the journey."

"Then I will train really hard so I can become strong. Even if I can't go along on the journey, I want to see the world in the hope to regain my memories."

"You think they won't return on their own? You don't need to travel the world in order to restore your memories."

"Maybe they will… I just have a feeling that they won't."

"Well, class is over for today. I expect all of you will be on time tomorrow."

"Yes Professor Sage." Everyone in class said. Professor Sage had given them a bit of homework for tomorrow. Dean grabbed his stuff and intended to go home. While he was outside Colette called out for him.

"Dean wait up!" Dean waited for Colette to catch up with him. "Why don't we play for a bit after we drop off our stuff at home. Lloyd said he wanted to show us something really cool."

"Sure. That sounds fun. Thanks Colette." Colette smiled at that.

"Did you mean what you said back in class?" Colette then asked him. Dean looked at her confused. "Come on, you said you wanted to protect me during class" the blond girl continued.

"Yeah I meant it. I want to grow strong and go along with you on your journey."

"You really mean that? I'm so happy! But it's going to be really dangerous. What if you get hurt?"

"That's why I have to grow strong. I'm going to start training from now on every day. I'm going to grow strong. Just wait and see Colette." Dean was serious when he said all these things. Ever since hearing of this journey, the desire to come along had been burning in his heart. "I'm going to drop my stuff off. Where shall we meet? Right here, before the school building."

"Sure. We will be waiting for you here." Dean waved her goodbye. As he left he saw Lloyd leaving the building. The boy didn't look so happy. Apparently the professor had scolded him a bit. He met another girl on the way home who he saw in class. He started to talk to her for a bit. Apparently she lived in the building next to his. She seemed like a nice person as well. Everyone seemed like a nice person in this village.

"Mom, I'm home!" Dean shouted as he entered the building. Linda was talking to the professor just then. Dean hadn't noticed that the professor had been at his home faster than him.

"Welcome home dear. Can you clean the table a bit."

"Sure." Dean first put his things in his room and then cleaned the table. After he was done he returned to Linda. She was just finished with talking with the professor. "Mom, Colette asked me to come and play. Can I go? They are waiting for me."

"You've already become friends with her, haven't you? Of course you can go and play. Make sure to be home on time. I need your help with the house for a bit."

"I won't be late. Thanks mom."

"Don't forget to do your homework." The professor said to Dean. She had been listening in.

"I won't Professor Sage. Today was fun at school. See you tomorrow." Dean left with a smile on his face. He ran to the school building as fast as he could. When he got there Lloyd and Colette were waiting.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting. My mom wouldn't let me leave immediately."

"That's okay Dean." Colette said.

"You must be Lloyd." Dean said smiling. "I'm Dean. I haven't been around here for long. I hope we can be friends."

"Nice to meet you. I wanted to show Colette some sword tricks I picked up. Want to look as well?" The boy in red asked.

"Sure." And so the boy pulled out two wooden swords. For a boy his age he handled them really well. He was wearing gloves so his hands wouldn't be hurt by swinging around the swords. On one of his hands there was a white cloth. Dean thought he saw something shining beneath the cloth as Lloyd was showing one of his sword clothes.

"Hey Lloyd. What's beneath that white cloth on your hand?" Dean asked after a while.

"I'm not supposed to show, but you can take a look." He pushed the cloth a bit away and it showed a gem underneath it. "Cool, isn't it?" Lloyd bragged.

"It's really pretty. What is it? Why is it attached to your hand like that." Dean asked. Nobody else had something like that.

"It's called an Exsphere. It something that enhances your fighting capabilities my dad said. Although I don't really understand what that means. I think it makes you stronger." Lloyd explained.

"A gem that makes you stronger… I wish I could have one too!" Dean said excited.

"I'm afraid Exspheres are really rare. Almost nobody has one. Besides an Exsphere on itself is dangerous. It needs to be imbedded in something called a Key Crest. It can cause the mana inside a person go haywire if it isn't. Only dwarves know how to do such a thing." Lloyd continued with his explanation.

"Wow, you know a lot about these things. You couldn't even answer simple questions the professor told you, but you know a lot about Exspheres and Key Crests." Dean said as he teased Lloyd.

"Well, my dad taught me all about since I'm using an Exsphere. I don't understand everything about it, but it's cool to have an Exsphere. My dad did tell me to hide it. I wonder why."

"Maybe they are wanted since they are so rare. People could attack you, because you have one. Although, I can't imagine anyone in this village attacking you."

"The people of this village seem to avoid me." Lloyd said.

"I don't avoid you Lloyd. I like you." Colette suddenly said. She had been quietly listening. This made the boy in red blush.

"Thanks Colette."

"Hey, your face now has the colour of your clothes. It suits you." I teased Lloyd a bit.

"It doesn't." Dean grinned.

"Lloyd, I have a question. Your dad is a dwarf right? You think he can make me a wooden sword?" I asked Lloyd.

"Why do you want a wooden sword?" Lloyd asked back.

"I told at class, don't you remember. I want to grow strong. In order to grow stronger I will need to learn how to fight. I think fighting with a weapon is better than fighting with your hands and feet. So I wanted to learn how to fight with a sword."

"You can have one of my wooden swords if you want. I have a bunch of them back home." Lloyd said as he handed one of his swords to Dean. The sword was meant for an adult, so it felt heavy and it was long. Dean really respected Lloyd now that he felt the weight of this sword. He had just swung it around like it was nothing.

"Thank you Lloyd. This means a lot to me." Dean looked at the stance of the sun. It was lower than he thought it would be. "Wow, look at how late it is." He said. "I have to go back and help mom and I promised the professor I wouldn't forget to make my homework."

"Ugh, that's right. We have homework after the first day of class. The professor is really strict." Lloyd said.

"I think she is kind." Colette said. Dean agreed with her.

"Today was fun. Shall we meet after school again tomorrow?" Dean asked with a smile on his face.

"Sure!" said Lloyd and Colette at the same time.

"Great. I'll see you guys tomorrow then." Dean ran back home with his new sword. His dream of becoming stronger was a bit closer now that he had a weapon. He was tired when he got home, although it was just a short run. He hadn't fully recovered is what he thought. He walked inside the house. "I'm sorry I'm late mom. It was just so much fun I forgot time." Linda was busy in the kitchen preparing dinner that she didn't turn around.

"I'm just glad you're on time for dinner. Paul isn't home yet. Could you help me with dinner?" the woman asked. Dean had taken this time to secretly put away his sword in his room. He then washed his hands and started helping his mother.

"So there was a wooden sword in your room Dean." Paul started to say during dinner time. Dean sighed. He had hoped that they wouldn't see it, but the sword was big and he hadn't hid it in his room. He had just dropped it on his bed, hoping Paul and Linda wouldn't see. That hope was gone now. "Would you mind explaining to us how you got it?" the man asked the boy.

"I asked Lloyd if Dirk could make me a wooden sword and then he just gave me one of his, saying he had plenty of them at home." Dean said. He knew his parents were disappointed for bringing something so dangerous home.

"Why did you ask him for something like that?" Linda asked her son.

"Well, the professor was asking what we wanted to do after when we were older. So I told her I wanted to go with Colette on her Journey of Regeneration." Paul and Linda looked at each other with concerned looks when their son told them that. "She said it would be dangerous. That's when I decided I had to grow strong. If I can become strong I will be able to go on the journey. Even if I can't go along on the Journey of Regeneration, I want to see the world when I grow up. Maybe my memories will return and I will remember where I came from. Maybe they won't return. If they don't return I want to look at the world with my own eyes. I'm sure that will help me remember." Paul and Linda looked at each other and Paul just nodded.

"We had heard from Frank and Phaidra you weren't like a normal boy. At first you looked and acted like just one." Frank told Dean. Dean didn't know Frank and Phaidra had informed his new parents.

"The professor talked to me today." Linda now said. "She said you picked up things really quick. She noticed on the first day that you were different from the rest. You're smart for your age and you have the mind of an adult."

"So you figured me out." Dean just said.

"So, the decision you made today. It wasn't on a whim, was it? You mean to go through with it?" Paul asked the boy.

"Yes. I want to grow strong. Strong enough to defend myself. Strong enough to protect the ones I care of. Strong enough to protect you."

"Then it's settled." Paul then said. "I will teach you how to fight."

"What?" Dean was surprised by that. He had expected that you had to somehow convince his parents that he had to go on the journey no matter what. He even expected that he had to train in secret.

"But you won't only learn how to fight. You will go to school. You will learn how to cook. You will learn which kind of herbs you can use. You will learn what kind of food you can eat in the wild. It's going to really tough. It's going to be really hard. Do you really want all of that? You could live like a child." Paul was testing him Dean realised. Dean just smiled. He knew he wasn't just a child. He knew they would treat him like an adult on this decision. Still the desire to go on the journey wouldn't go away.

"Yes. This is what I want." Dean answered with a burning passion in his heart.

"Okay. Remember this feeling boy. You're going to need it." Paul said. After that the man was quiet.

"There is only one last thing." Linda was the one talking now. "You will need to learn all of that and still make sure you will spend time with your friends. Friends are important in life. You will need them. You can't just stand by the side lines."

"I will. Thanks mom. Thanks dad." It was fortunate everyone had finished their dinner. It had gotten late and the food would have been cold if they still needed to eat.

"Go to sleep Dean. I will wake you in the early in the morning tomorrow, before the sun will rise." Dean nodded. "And don't thank me just yet. I'll make sure it's going to be hell." Paul smiled while saying this. Dean didn't like the smile on his face for some reason.

And that's how it all started. Dean got up before the sun rose. At first Paul had to wake him, but after a year he was able to get out on his own. Paul had given him some gloves to protect his hands. Dean didn't complain once in all the years of his training. This was the path he had chosen. Professor Sage wasn't happy with his decision. She had to wake him up almost every afternoon, because he had fallen asleep. She started to ask him questions more often. Dean knew the answer to every question, because he also made sure he studied enough. Lloyd could learn from him. It was a wonder if the red boy answered a question with the right answer. Every day after school Lloyd, Dean and Colette played together. As the little brother of the professor became older, he joined the group. They were a merry band of friends. Like this the years passed. Dean grew older and stronger.

When Dean was fifteen years old his dad took him outside of the village. He hadn't been fighting real monsters and that day was the big day Dean had been waiting for. His father was also carrying a sword, although his one was a real sword. He had never told Dean how he had gotten it. He always told him that it was a secret. They would fight the monsters together. Luckily for them the monsters around the village were quite weak. They managed to beat them with ease. Paul even let Dean take care of the monsters on his own as he noticed that he was strong enough to do so. They went a bit farther away from the village. They walked into the woods and eat some berries which weren't poisonous what Paul knew. They were relaxing for a while when they were suddenly surrounded by monster. They slowly got on their feet.

"Relax Dean. Let's stay together and protect each other's backs." Dean just nodded as they each sided one way and started to rotate, weary that the monsters would attack any minute now. All was silence for a while until a brave wolf lunged forward. Dean trusted his sword forward and hit the throat of the monster. After that the monsters all attacked as one. Paul and Dean had to separate from each other, because they would attack each other if they didn't. They both suffered some attacks, but those weren't life threatening. The monsters just kept on coming and it seemed like there was no end to them. Dean fought for his life as he defeated monster after monster. After a while he noticed Paul wasn't in his line of sight anymore. After trusting and slashing his sword at the monster that was closest to him he started to move towards the sound of fighting. When he saw Paul things weren't looking so good for his father. He was facing a huge bear monster which towered over him. Paul tried to defend himself, but the monster just slammed the sword out of his hand and knocked him to the ground. Paul was now lying on the ground defenceless.

"Dad! No!" Dead screamed as he unleashed a power from the inside he didn't know he possessed. From out of nowhere a lightning bolt hit the monster bear and killed it. Having discovered this new power of his Dean used it to defeat the rest of the monsters while fighting the ones that came to close with his sword. He was unleashing both lightning and wind attacks. The monsters got scared of this new display of power and fled, knowing it was no use anymore to attack these people. "Dad!" Dean screamed again and ran towards his father. Paul was lying unconscious on the ground and there was blood coming from his arm. Dean saw the sword of his father lying close by and picked it up and put it away along with his own sword. He might need to use it if the monsters noticed that their prey was weakened. Dean tried his best to put his father on his back. After a few failed attempts he succeeded. Slowly but steady he carried his father back to the village. As he was near the village the guards came closer to see what had happened. Dean was exhausted and almost fainted. The guards took over his weight and quickly carried Paul to the house of Professor Sage. One of the guards also guided Dean there. When Dean arrived there the elf was already healing his father.

"Is he going to be okay?" Dean managed to say as he sat down exhausted. There were black spots before his eyes, but do to pure determination he managed to stay conscious. Genis handed his friend a glass of water, trying to help. Dean smiled to the boy, saying thanks without words.

"It will take some time before his arm is fully healed. He's going to be okay. Rest is going to cure him of all his wounds. I have performed first aid. There is nothing else I can do." Just hearing his father was going to be okay was a huge relief for Dean. "What happened?" Dean slowly told his teacher everything that had happened. "Do you have any idea what those attacks were Dean?" Dean shook his head. "You used magic Dean. This is the first time I've heard of a human using magic."

"I didn't know how I did it. I panicked and the urge to save my father summoned forth that power. Now that I'm here I can somehow feel that power flowing through me. It had always been there. I had only never known how to use it before."

"You two are very fortunate to be alive. Even experienced fighters would have lost their lives if they would have been in the same situation as you have been." At that moment Linda ran into the house.

"Are they okay? Tell me they are okay!" The woman almost screamed.

"Relax Linda. They are fine. Your husband is wounded, but it's nothing that time cannot heal. Dean is right here. Your son just needs some sleep, that's all." Slowly the fear disappeared from the eyes of the woman as she saw with her own eyes that everything was alright. She gave Dean a big hug and started crying.

"It's okay mom. We're alright." Dean reassured his mother.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again."

"You know I can't promise you something like that." Dean softly whispered.

"I know." The woman whispered back. After a while the woman regained her composure.

"I'm sorry for causing such an uproar. Thank you professor."

"That's alright. I just did what any other person would have done if they were in my shoes." The elf just replied.

"Um… I don't want to disturb you like this, but Dean has fallen asleep while he was sitting." Genis then said. The young elf was pushing Dean back, trying to make sure he didn't fall on the ground. "Can you help me out here?" The two women took the boy under the arms and dragged him to a bed and laid him down.

"That boy is heavy." Rain said.

"Well, he has more muscles than Lloyd. That's for sure." Genis replied.

"We're lucky that his brain isn't of the same calibre as Lloyd." Raine said back at that.

"I concur. It's hard enough sometimes with one stupid in our class. I don't know what it's like with another Lloyd. With Dean you can discuss about some things that are a bit more complex." Genis started talking.

"Yes, but Lloyd can be relied on when you're in trouble." Linda said. She didn't like the negative atmosphere.

"Yes, that's true and his craftsmanship is flourishing lately. It's his forte." A silence then came over them. Linda then said she was going to bring some people over who could carry the two men back to her house.

After he woke up the next morning, Dean decided that he would work on the land until his father was better. He was feeling guilty over what had happened even though Paul had said that the decision to go into the woods was his mistake. Saying that didn't make Dean feel better. The professor even agreed on his decision on the condition that he would keep making his homework and after work was done for the day he would have to come over to her place. She was planning to teach him to learn how to control his magic. Now both he and Genis were getting lessons in handling magic from the professor. She herself was an expert on healing, support and light magic. She knew the basics of magic better than anyone and was even more strict when she was teaching Genis and Dean magic than in class. Dean probably thought she was more strict, because magic could be dangerous. Luckily for Dean his father recovered more quickly than the professor had predicted. They even got the approval of the professor that the man could go back to work. Dean went back to school and started playing with his friends after school. Genis and he even showed their friends a bit of their magic after they made sure the professor wasn't around. Time flew and the day of the Oracle came closer and closer.

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><p><strong>I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. It is true that OC Dean thinks way too logical for a boy his age, but everything will be explained. The downside is that you will have to wait until the end of the story for the explanation. You will hang out with me until then.<br>**

**Reviews are welcome, but I intend to continue writing this story even if I don't receive one.**

**See you next time!**


	2. The beginning of a journey

**Hey there everyone. I forgot to tell you that the first eight chapters were already written when I uploaded this story of mine. I first wanted to know if I would continue writing this story before I would put it on the internet.**

**In this chapter the journey finally begins. You'll notice immediately that I've made quite a lot of changes. It was necessary in order for me to write the story and make some things more logical than the events that happened in the original game.**

**Please enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I'm not that great a genius.**

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><p>That day Dean woke up early like usual. In his eyes today was an important day. It was Colette's birthday and he hadn't gotten her a birthday present yet. He had been going outside the village for some time now on his own, carrying the sword of Paul. On one of his trips he had discovered some beautiful flowers. He didn't want the flowers to wither, so he decided to pick them on the day of her birthday and surprise her before she went to school. The monsters knew his strength by now and he was rarely attacked by them. This gave him to study to various plants, herbs and berries that grew in the neighbourhood. Paul had given him a survival book and he had lent several books from the professor that described the flora and fauna of this area. He had also studied the various and plants from other areas, which ones were useful and which one to avoid or not to use. Still, studying these things from a book was different from seeing the plants with your own eyes. After a short walk he came over the spot where the flowers were growing. He had to defeat some monsters that were lurking nearby, but this proved to be no problem for Dean. He then started picking the flowers which he thought were the most beautiful and most fitting for Colette. After he had a nice bush of flowers he tied them together with some grass. He then headed back home. The sun was starting to rise when he got home. He took out his boots before entering the home. The ground had been wet and beneath his boots was a thick layer of mud. His mother didn't like it if he made a mess of the house this early in the morning. His parents weren't awake just yet, so he quietly started to make breakfast for everyone and made his lunch for the day. The harvest of this year had been better than the several years before, so they could afford to eat a bit more than the years before. Dean wasn't complaining. He sometimes hunted the monsters for meat and brought back eatable berries and plants and herbs they could use in the kitchen. Due to this the last years had been much better for him and his parents. He always hunted too much so the village always was happy with him. He always kept a small part apart from the rest so he could give this to his friends.<p>

"Good morning darling." said his mother as Dean just had finished putting breakfast on the table. She gave him a kiss on the cheek. In the beginning his mother had been worried sick if Dean went out alone in the morning, but after she noticed that he brought back meat, plants, berries and herbs from the early she realised that he was in no danger at all.

"Good morning mom. Have you slept well?" Dean asked his mother. "Take it easy. Do you want some tea?"

"Tea would be wonderful. I'll just go and wash myself and get ready." Dean was in a good mood today and his mother seemed to be too. "For who are the flowers? You never gave me some."

"The flowers are for Colette. It's her birthday today. I didn't know what to give her, so I decided to pick some flowers for her. I'm sure she will like those."

"So finally confessing your love to her today, are you?" Dean heard his father say. He started to blush a little bit.

"It's a birthday present. I'm not confessing anything." At this his father only laughed. Dean realised once again how much he loved these people. They took him in when he was young and they even taught him everything he needed to know in order to make his journey. Dean still didn't remember anything since the day Frank and Colette found him. It didn't bother him as much as it used to do. The memories he had made in this village were precious to him. The breakfast of that morning was a merry one. His parents were proud of him. Although they would miss him, they knew that he was going to be fine on his own if he left on a journey. Dean was just waiting. Waiting for the day of the Oracle. After breakfast he grabbed his stuff and took the flowers and went to the house of Colette. Dean knocked the door, feeling nervous. It really did seem like he was going to confess his love. It felt weird standing there with flowers in his hands. Frank opened the door.

"Good morning Dean. Can I help you with something?" the man said as he saw the boy standing in front of his house.

"Is Colette awake yet? I have something for her." Dean just said, trying not to sound nervous. Frank then saw the flowers the boy was holding in his hands.

"Not yet, but don't stand there. Come in. You know you are always welcome here." Dean thanked the man and took out his boots again. He had forgotten to clean them. He had to clean before going to school or else the professor would get angry. He knew it was best not to make her angry.

"We were planning on given her breakfast on bed to surprise her. She couldn't sleep last night. So we're letting her sleep a bit more today." Phaidra said.

"Mind if I help with preparing breakfast?" Dean asked. "Linda taught me how to do it and I'm really bad at just sitting and doing nothing."

"Oh I know you're a good cook. Any help is welcome. It think she would be glad if one of her friend would bring breakfast to her." So they finished making breakfast together. It was nice talking to Frank and Phaidra after some time again. After they were done they put some things of the breakfast on a plate and walked upstairs to her room. Frank opened her door.

"Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Colette. Happy birthday to you." Dean, Frank and Phaidra sang together. The blond girl woke up from their singing.

"Happy birthday dear." said Frank as he kissed the girl on the cheeks. "We made you some breakfast. Enjoy it."

"Oh wow. I'm so happy. You did this for me?" The girl smiled as she received her breakfast. Phaidra congratulated her too. Now it was Dean's turn.

"Happy birthday Colette. I picked these flowers this morning. I hope you like them." Dean handed her the flowers.

"Oh Dean. They're beautiful. Thank you." She lay down the flowers on her bed and she started eating breakfast. "Oh wow, this is delicious."

"Well Dean gave me some tips and added a bit of herbs to it." Dean had to blush as Phaidra said these things.

"It was nothing. I picked that up while I was experimenting with cooking one day. My mom and I like to experiment with all kind of different herbs. I know you like sweet things, so I added some honey to your tea." Frank and Phaidra went downstairs to eat their breakfast. They offered Dean to come and eat, but he was still full from eating breakfast at his home. Colette asked him if he could stay as she ate her breakfast.

"It makes me happy that you came over today. Normally I don't like my birthday that much, but you, Genis and Lloyd always cheer me up and make me feel like a normal girl on my birthday."

"Oh yeah. Every time when you've grown a year older you're reminded of your responsibilities as the Chosen One. It must be hard on you. I still find it stupid that only the Chosen can regenerate the World."

"Yeah, I know you do. Just being there for me means a lot to me."

"That's why I'm coming along on the journey Colette. So you can share the burden of regenerating the world with. I'll protect you and make sure you won't get hurt. I'll smash those monster apart."

"Thanks Dean. Actually, there is something I want to tell you. I –"

"Colette! Hurry up and get dressed or you're going to be late for school!" Frank yelled from downstairs.

"You wanted to say something?" Dean asked.

"No, it's nothing important." Dean noticed that is was important, but you didn't want to push the girl. She would tell him eventually if it really was that important. He trusted she would do such a thing.

"Well, I'd better go downstairs. You can't change if I linger like this. I'll see you downstairs." Dean left the room and closed the door behind him. He then went downstairs and waited until the girl was ready. It took a little while and they had to ran in order to be on time. Fortunately for them they were on just in time. Lloyd however was late. Again. So the professor ordered him to stand at the back of the class while holding two buckets of water. Dean was sorry for Lloyd. He had to travel quite a bit to school and if the monsters attacked him on the way, he always was in danger of getting too late. It was just another school day like any other. This day Dean didn't fell asleep in the afternoon. Then when Genis was answering one of the questions of the professor there was suddenly a bright flash. Everybody looked outside and saw a pillar of light coming from the temple.

"Settle down everyone." Professor Sage told the class. "Colette, you mean what this means, don't you. Let's go to the temple. Dean, we might need some extra protection. Come along with us. The rest of you, class is dismissed."

"I want to come along too!" Lloyd said.

"Lloyd? Very well. You know your way around with a sword. Genis come with us as well. Your magic might come in handy. We can never be too careful. The monsters have been more aggressive lately." The rest of the class went home. The professor let them to the temple. There were some monsters, but Dean took care of them before anyone else could help him. The monsters in this area had been more aggressive lately. Some of them even attacked the village. In the area where Dean had been hunting for food and training the monsters weren't as aggressive as here. After walking for a while they came to the temple. On the way to the temple they came across a priest. He was badly wounded.

"Chosen One!" he called out. Everyone ran towards him. "The Desians attacked. Almost everyone is dead. Phaidra is still there trying to negotiate with them." The priest manage to say before he died. The professor wanted to heal him with her staff, but the man died of his wounds before he had the chance.

"No!" Colette yelled out. Everyone was shocked by the dead of the priest, but Dean managed to stay calm.

"The Desians did this?" Dean asked. "Why would they break the non-agression treaty now? It doesn't make sense."

"That's what I'm wondering as well." The professor said.

"Does it matter? They are going to pay for doing this." Lloyd said.

"Calm down Lloyd. Let's make sure there will be no pointless bloodshed." Dean tried to calm down the boy in red. Lloyd just clenched his fists in response. Dean didn't blame him. He was just in disbelief that this had happened. "Let's go. Phaidra needs our help." They then climbed the stairs leading to the temple.

"Colette. Run!" Phaidra said as she saw the Chosen One coming closer. She was surrounded by a group of Desians. They were wearing identical helmets which covered their faces and they were wearing red with black suits and they were carrying short swords or crossbows.

"I won't let you Desians get away with this!" Lloyd said while drawing his swords.

"Heh. They think we're Desians." One of the men said while laughing.

"So if you're not Desians and you're trying to kill Colette, who are you people?" Dean simply asked.

"You think we're going to tell you? Get them boys." The same 'Desian' replied. The men started running towards them.

"Professor, please use support and healing magic. Genis, keep your distance and attack them with your magic. Colette, keep your distance and attack with your chakrams. Don't let them get close to you. Lloyd, you and I will confront them up close and make sure they won't be able to hurt the others." Dean started to give orders to everyone. They nodded in response and got ready for battle.

Lloyd and Dean confronted the Desians up close. The two of them stayed together to watch each other's back. The Desians had shorter swords than Dean and Lloyd, but they could fight really well with them. Both Lloyd and Dean had trouble fighting off these men as they were experienced fighters. Both Lloyd and Dean had to use their artes to lower the defence of their foes in order to finish them off. It was really hard to fight these men, especially with the crossbowmen firing their arrows at them. At one point they were focussing too much of their attention on Lloyd and Dean. That gave Genis the time to cast his magic spells on the crossbowmen. Then a Desian who hadn't been fighting joined the battle. The guy was huge and he used a big spiked ball on a chain as his weapon. Lloyd barely managed to dodge one of the attacks of the man, but his wooden swords were crushed. Dean now faced this mountain on his own. Dean couldn't get near and decided to get some distance between him and the man. He had no time to check on the rest of the group. The man was slow, so Dean had enough time to cast his magic spells on him.

"Lightning!" Dean shouted as a bolt of lightning struck the man. Magic was normally really strong on monsters, but this man had some kind of armour that weakened the magic. The man dropped his spiked steel ball on chain and drew a sword. The man confronted Dean up close, so he couldn't use his magic anymore. Dean got pushed back by the strength of the man. Still, the man was slow. If Dean took one hit he would be done for. Dean dodged the attacks and the man began to recklessly attack him. Dean had to back away. A magic spell then hit the man which gave Dean the chance to get close. With a quick and accurate slash through the throat of the man Dean managed to finish the man off. If the man hadn't been hit by that magic spell, Dean would have been done for. Tired, Dean put away his sword. He tried not to think on the fact that he just had killed another person. When Dean was checking if the rest of the group was okay, he noticed that there was a man he had not seen talking with the professor. The rest was gathering around him as well. Dean walked towards this person. He was clad in a purple suit and was wearing multiple layers of light armour. On the left side of his belt he was carrying a long sword and there was a small shield located on his left arm as well.

"Thank you for your help." Colette was thanking the man.

"I was in the neighbourhood and I heard voices as fighting. As soon as I saw Desians attack you I knew there was something wrong. I came at the right time."

"Yes, thank you for your help." The professor said. The man then turned around and faced Dean. Dean noticed there was an Exsphere attached to one of the hands of the man.

"I'm glad that you are okay. I couldn't get next to you in time so I used some magic to assist you. I'm glad it turned out well." The man said to me. His voice was neutral even though he used kind words.

"That magic spell came from you? Thank you for your help. I would have been done for without your help. My name is Dean. May I have your name and ask what you were doing here?" I answered the man. I was grateful, but on guard with all that had happened.

"I am Kratos, a mercenary. I was looking for a job when I heard the fighting. I was just in time to save this girl as she tripped and one of those Desians was trying to finish her off."

"Well, we are grateful that you saved the Chosen One." Phaidra then said.

"I see, then this girl is the next Chosen." Colette seemed to remember something when Kratos said those words.

"Oh, that's right I have to go accept the oracle." the blond girl said.

"The temple looks different from usual." The professor then said. She had been here before to study the various books this temple had.

"An eerie aura aluminates from within this temple. There may be monsters now as part of the trial."

"Yes, the Chosen is supposed to go inside, face the trials and offer her prayers. However, the priests that were supposed to accompany her, fell at the hands of the Desians." Phaidra said.

"If you can pay me, I'll accept the job of protecting the Chosen." Kratos then said.

"Under the circumstances I have little choice. Dean, will you protect Colette as well?" Phaidra requested.

"You know I will from now on go with Colette as one of the guardians of the Chosen. Kratos, will you help me with this task?" Dean asked the mercenary.

"It will be my job to protect the Chosen from now on. It would be my honour to help you protect the Chosen on her holy quest." Kratos replied.

"Thank you." Dean said.

"I'll come along too. My healing skills will come along in handy."

"I wanna come too!" Lloyd said.

"You'll get in the way." Kratos just said to the boy in red.

"What did you say?" Lloyd said angrily. He was being pushed to the side lines and he didn't like it.

"Did I make myself not clear? You're a burden. Go home." Kratos replied to the childish answer of the boy.

"Wait Kratos. Let Lloyd and Genis come along too. Those Desians might still be around. They could capture them. These two are friends of Colette. It would not be wise to let them linger around. Let's keep them around. They can stay in the back and help us." Dean said to Kratos. He just wanted the fight to stop and was looking for a peaceful solution.

"Alright then, but if anything happens to them, it is not my responsibility." the man answered, wanting to stop the useless fighting as well.

"Is that alright with you Lloyd and Genis?" Dean asked the boys.

"Yeah, but how I supposed to help you now? My swords got crushed by that guy with the chain and ball." Lloyd asked helplessly.

"You could use the swords of the Desians who we have killed. Or you can grab one of the crossbows with a quiver with arrows. Your choice." Dean offered. Lloyd then took two of the swords the Desians had used. He didn't like them, but it was better than nothing. He also took the scabbards of the swords with him and tuck them in his belt, next to the ones of his now broken swords. After that the group entered the temple. It was dark in the building and the air was filled with mana that didn't feel right.

"Colette, you've been in here many times, right?" Genis asked her.

"Yeah, but it seems different than usual." the blond girl answered.

"I sense the presence of monsters. Don't let your guard down." Kratos answered.

"We can handle a few measly monsters. Let's go." Lloyd answered. Kratos wanted to say something, but didn't. The group then headed towards the inner chamber, but there was a seal in front of it.

"This wasn't here before." Colette said.

"We should be able to break this seal. There must be something in this temple that can help us with this." The professor said. "Do you perhaps know if something like that is inside this temple Colette?"

"Um… Well there is this thing called the Sorcerer's Ring in the room to the right. Maybe that can help us." The Chosen One answered.

"Then let's go look for that Sorcerer's Ring." Dean said. On the way to the room they encountered some monsters, but they were even weaker than the ones outside. They were able to easily get rid of them. They headed down some stairs and entered a big room. There were holes in the ground.

"Look, look! There's something glowing." Genis said as he was pointing at something in the distance.

"Wow! Let's go see it!" Lloyd happily said.

"It's probably the Sorcerer's Ring." The professor said.

"Look, there's some kind of Golem here. That wasn't here before as well." Colette said. The Golem then started to move. Colette threw one of her chakrams at the monster, doing minimum damage. Kratos got near and slashed at the monster, but it didn't seem to bother the Golem much.

"There are cracks in his body." Dean noticed. "Let's try hitting it there." He dodged one of the attacks the Golem threw at him and trusted his sword in one of the cracks. The monster then let out some kind of cry and seemed to transform into something else. Dean quickly pulled back his sword. The Golem turned into a block.

"Wow! It turned into a rock!" Colette said cheerfully. She was pushing herself to sound cheerful.

"Well, it was kind of a rock to begin with." Lloyd said. Colette walked towards the block but then tripped and fell against the rock. The rock then moved into one of the holes of the ground, opening a path towards the Sorcerer's Ring.

"I see." Genis, Dean, Kratos and the professor answered.

"What are you talking about?" Lloyd said.

"Well, I assume there will soon appear one of those Golems again." Dean said. As he said that another Golem appeared out of nowhere.

"Whoa, there's another one!" Lloyd said surprised.

"Now, let's take care of it and drop it down below." Genis continued. Lloyd still looked confused, but helped with taken down the Golem. After defeating several Golems and dropping their block forms into the flour, thus clearing a path towards the shiny object, the group finally were able to retrieve the Sorcerer's Ring.

"So this is the Sorcerer's Ring? I've heard it's a holy artefact of the Church of Martel." Genis then said.

"Yes, it looks quite fascinating." The professor said as she approached the ring to take a look at it.

"With this, we should be able to deal with the seal that was blocking our path earlier."

"Wow! Let me try it!" Lloyd said excited.

"Okay Lloyd." Colette gave Lloyd the ring.

"You're like a little kid." Genis said to Lloyd.

"Interesting to hear from a child of your age." Dean said to Genis, teasing him.

"Hey, I'm not a kid." Genis said back to that.

"Sure, if you say so." Lloyd tried out the Sorcerer's Ring in the meantime. A small fireball came from the ring. Lloyd was disappointed by this, expecting something cooler. They group then headed back to the sealed door. Lloyd then removed the seal.

"Oh. Is this all the Sorcerer's Ring does?" Lloyd said, now even more disappointed than before.

"You get bored so easily." Genis replied to his friend. Behind the door were was some kind of panel that gave light. As soon as someone stepped on it, that person disappeared.

"Well, that isn't something you see every day." Dean said as Kratos disappeared in front of his eyes. He then stepped on the panel and was teleported to somewhere else. When everybody was in the room they examined the room.

"This appears to be the top floor." Kratos said.

"Yes. That's the altar." Colette replied.

"Then that shining thing there must be the Cruxis Crystal." Lloyd said as he pointed at the middle of the altar.

"That's right. They say I was born with that in my hand." the blond girl said. She was smiling, but there was sadness in her eyes. Dean wondered why.

"Look at that light!" Genis almost yelled. Everybody looked at the light. From within the light a winged priest appeared above the altar.

"What is that?" Lloyd asked.

"An angel, I would assume." Kratos just said. He didn't seem to be impressed. It was hard for Dean to get a hold on the man. His expression was neutral all the time and he hardly showed any emotions. Dean closely observed the angel. He had beautiful white wings. He was garbed in a green and blue priest outfit. He had blond hair and blue eyes just like Colette.

"So is that Colette's real father?" Genis asked the question out loud the same question Dean had thought of just before.

"I am Remiel." The angel spoke. "I am an angel of judgment. I am here to guide Colette, daughter of the mana lineage, on her journey to heaven as the seventh Chosen." Remiel descended a bit so he would be just a little above the others. There was kindness in his eyes, but Dean thought he also saw a bit of arrogance. "The time has come to awaken the Goddes Marte, who sleeps at the centre of the world." The angel continued. His voice was commanding and strong.

"Awaken the Goddess Martel… It's just like the legend we've heard in class." Genis said. The Cruxis Crystal then started floating towards Colette and somehow got attached to her like a necklace.

"From this moment, Colette becomes the Chosen of Regeneration. We of Cruxis bless this event and bestow the Tower of Salvation upon Sylvarant." Dean looked outside through one of the many huge windows this room he. Suddenly there appeared an enormous grey tower which reached out towards the sky and looked like it had no end. The tower seemed to be at the centre of the world.

"So that's the Tower of Salvation!" Lloyd said.

"Now the world will be saved!" Genis cheered with joy.

"I humbly accept this task." Colette said. She was still smiling, but the sadness in her eyes only seemed to be growing.

"Very good. We of Cruxis shall grant you the power of the angels with each seal you unlock. Once you are reborn as an angel. This eroded world shall be regenerated." Remiel continued.

"Thank you. I swear on my life I will regenerate the world." Colette continued.

"First head south, to the Seal of Fire. Offer your prayers in that distant land." Remiel seemed to be done talking.

"Yes, Lord Remiel." Just as Remiel started to ascend toward the ceiling once again Colette called out. "Wait! Please wait! I have a question I wish to ask of you. Are you really my father?" Colette desperately called out to the angel.

"First had to the Seal of Fire. Understood? My beloved daughter, Colette." Remiel then said. Dean saw arrogance in the smile of the angel. He didn't trust this angel. He always had doubts about the angels and the Church of Martel, but this angel only seemed to confirm his doubts with his shady behaviour.

"F…father! So you really are my true father." Colette called out. There was hope in her eyes.

"We shall meet again at the next seal, my daughter." Remiel just answered. There was nothing fatherly in his words and actions. He just turned into a ball of light again and disappeared into the heavens.

"Sis! Wasn't the oracle amazing?" Genis then said excited to his sister.

"Yes, it was quite something. I'm glad I could see it." The professor said. Her eyes were filled with the desire to discover new things.

"I can't believe Remiel is my father…" Colette said to Dean. "I'm alright. I'm just a little surprised. That's all."

"Does it matter? Linda and Paul aren't my real parents, but I still call them mom and dad. They really feel like a mom and dad. I enjoy their love towards me each day. I love them both so much. Even if we're not related by blood, I still consider them my parents."

"You're right." She said back at that.

"So even though Frank isn't your real father, you should give him the love you would give a real father. Although, we're probably leaving soon, won't we? I guess we'll have to say goodbye to our families and the village."

"Yeah." She looked kind of sad when Dean said that.

"Alright. Let's head back to the village. We shall discuss the journey with the mayor at Frank's house." The professor then said. They all stepped on the warp panel and went back to the village. On the way they encountered no Desians or monsters. Things had finally settled down.

"Are you okay Lloyd?" Dean asked Lloyd on the way back.

"Yeah. Why do you ask?" Lloyd asked back.

"Well, Kratos wasn't really friendly with you, but I think he didn't want you to get hurt. You did get hurt a little bit when we were fighting those strange Desians earlier."

"I don't really like that guy. He acts like he's all powerful." Lloyd responded. Dean could clearly notice that Lloyd was irritated by Kratos.

"Well, he did give me some tips and I've seen him in action. I also saw him using some healing magic. He's really good with a sword and can use magic as well. He's probably even stronger than me." Dean said. He didn't want to defend Kratos, but his friend was acting childish.

"If he's stronger than you, that's only because he's got an Exsphere and you don't. For someone who doesn't have an Exsphere, you're really strong Dean. You can use magic as well."

"Thanks Lloyd. I can only use magic of the element wind and lightning though. Genis can use magic of every element, except for light and darkness as far as I've seen. You're really good with a sword as well. You've beaten some of those Desians with wooden swords. Not everybody can do such a thing."

"Thanks Dean." There was a silence between the two friends for a while then. "I have a question for you Dean. Would you mind if Genis and I tagged along on the journey of regeneration?"

"I wouldn't mind. The more the merrier and having my friends come along on the journey doesn't sound bad. Besides, you can defend yourself and Genis has his magic."

"All right!" the boy in red said excited.

"However, I don't think the mayor, the professor and Kratos would agree. I can vote for you and try to convince them it would be no problem if you came along on the journey. I just don't think they'll listen to me. They'll see what I'll be trying to do. I'm sorry, but it's not me you have to convince if you want to come along." Lloyd was silent after he had heard that. Genis had been listening in and he was silent as well. He had been hoping to go along on the journey with his sister. We soon reached the village. The professor went to get the mayor and we agreed to meet at the house where Colette lived.

"So, the day has finally come." Dean said to no one in particular. They were at Colette's house right now. Everybody was sitting at the table, waiting for the professor and the mayor. Lloyd and Genis were talking what had happened at the temple with excited voices.

"Yes. The day has come where I begin the journey. I was born for this reason." Colette said. She was smiling like always, but I could still see the sadness in her eyes. She was strong. I could see deep inside that she didn't want to do this, but she knew this was her duty and she was determined to go through with it till the very end.

"Aren't you nervous? I know I am."

"Maybe a little bit, but I don't feel nervous when all my friends are here with me."

"I'm glad to hear that." At that moment the professor and the mayor entered the house. There were no more chairs left to sit on, so I offered my chair to one of them. They declined my offer however and made Lloyd and Genis stand up. They weren't happy to do that. Raine just said they should be happy that they could stay during this meeting, that this was not a thing for kids. I could see that Lloyd got irritated by this, but he didn't respond this time.

"Professor Sage already told me what had happened at the temple. I can't believe the Desians would ignore the non-aggression treaty. Especially today." The mayor said, clearly angry about this fact.

"We don't know if they were Desians. The looked like Desians, but when we called them Desians they just grinned and told us they weren't Desians. When I asked them what they were they didn't give an answer. Instead, they attacked us." Dean said.

"Well, they looked and acted like Desians." Lloyd said to that.

"I just we won't find out whether they were Desians or not." The professor said to that.

"We could go and visit the Iselia Human Ranch and ask them about it, but I don't think that's a good idea. Ignore what I just said." Dean responded.

"Well, we're not here to discuss if those people were Desians or not." Kratos then said. "We're here to decide who's going alongside the Chosen on her Journey of Regeneration. Now that the priests are dead, we'll need other people for the job."

"Kratos is right." The professor said. "Mayor, this is Kratos the mercenary I told you of."

"Oh yes. Once again thank you for your help. We'd like to hire you. We hope we have enough Gald for the job."

"So who else is coming along the journey?" Dean asked. "If you find me worthy enough, I'd be happy to help guard Colette."

"Are there any objections to that?" the Mayor asked. Nobody said any.

"Then I'll go along on the journey as well." The professor said. "My healing skills and my magic will come in handy. Besides I won't hurt to have another adult on the group."

"Then, we shall entrust the protection of the Chosen to Kratos, Dean and Raine." the Mayor concluded.

"I have no objections." Kratos said. Dean noticed that Colette hadn't said anything at all. She had just been sitting there. It was her journey, but she couldn't even decide who would come along and who wouldn't.

"I want to go, too! I want to see Colette regeneratie the world!" Lloyd said.

"If Raine is going, I'm want to go, too." Genis demanded.

"No. You'll get in the way." Kratos decided.

"Wh…what?!" Lloyd said, clenching his fists again. Dean could really notice he was getting fed up with the way people had been treating him today. Dean predicted this would happen and had told him too.

"The battles at the chapel were nothing compared to the journey what awaits us. Children need to stay home." Kratos just said back with a calm voice. Once again Dean couldn't read him.

"Kratos is absolutely right." the mayor continued. He was about the say something more, but Lloyd intervened.

"Children? Dean is the same age as we are. Still you treat him like an adult. You only look down on me." Lloyd was really angry now.

"That's because Dean acts like an adult. In our eyes he is an adult. Besides, he knows how to survive in the wild. You has been training for this moment he whole life. Everybody would treat you like a child with the way you behave." The professor said to this. She was getting enough of Lloyd's behaviour. "Now then, we still have things to discuss. You two should go on home." The professor concluded. Genis almost had to drag Lloyd outside. Lloyd looked angry at Dean too. His lips moved like an 'I'm sorry' without saying anything. Lloyd slammed the door behind him.

"You were too harsh on him Professor." said Colette and she went outside as well.

"I know you made the right decision Professor Sage, but did you had to do it like that?" Dean then asked.

"You know that unless I worded it like that he wouldn't be convinced. I need to be strict on Lloyd, even if that means he won't like me. I'm his teacher and I put him in his place like one." Raine replied.

"It's for their own safety. They don't know what will await them. From what I have heard you do know that." Kratos then said.

"I don't know, but I'm better prepared." Dean replied.

"That's all there is needed." the Mayor said. "Now let's discuss what we need to do before the journey can start." And that we did. Kratos and Raine had travelled before and knew what needed to be done. They said to leave the preparations to them. Raine told me to say goodbye to my parents and pack for the journey. They would manage the rest. At that moment Colette came back inside. She was eating some cookies.

"Where did you get those?" Dean asked her.

"Genis baked some for me. It is my birthday after all. Do you want some?" She asked.

"No. Those cookies are your present. Enjoy them. I'm sorry that all of this happened on your birthday. It should be a day filled with joy, not with this."

"No, I'm sorry for that."

"You don't have to apologise. It's not your fault. It's nobody's fault actually. Anyway, I'm going to pack my stuff for the journey and say goodbye to my parents. Want me to come here to celebrate for a bit?" Dean offered.

"No, that's alright. Go and say goodbye to your parents. You won't see them for a long while after we leave. I'll be okay. On the other hand. I want to say goodbye to Lloyd, so I'm going to his house tonight. Will you come here after dinner?"

"Sure." Dean didn't believe her when she said she'll be okay, but he went home anyway. He had a feeling that he couldn't help her at this point. When he arrived home both Paul and Linda were sitting at the table.

"Welcome home." Paul said. Dean just smiled. "I heard you went along with Colette to the oracle. How was it?" And so Dean told his parents what had happened. The attack of the strange 'Desians', the trials inside the temple and the discussion that had taken place at Colette's house.

"I see. So you're really leaving, aren't you?" Linda said.

"Yeah. I am. I'm really excited to finally leave. This is where I've been training for all this time." Dean said with a smile on his face.

"But?" his mother asked. Dean sighed.

"It's going to be lonely without you. I'm going to miss you." Dean confessed.

"Oh darling. You shouldn't let the thoughts about us hold you back. Your memories still aren't back, are they? It's just like you said when you were a kid. You've grown into a fine grown man. We're really proud of you. Just promise to come back here after your journey is over." his mom said to him. She gave him a long hug. His dad joined the hug as well.

"Thanks, mom. Thanks, dad. I'll come back here no matter what happens. I promise."

"I have a present for you." his dad then said. He went to his bedroom and grabbed something from the closet. He came back with a brand new sword in a beautiful dark green scabbard. On the scabbard was Dean's name with the family name Woods. "I knew the journey the journey was going to be dangerous. Ever since you told us that you wanted to on a journey when you were older your mom and I have been saving Gald with each year. Half a year ago we finally had enough for this. We asked Dirk if he could make a sword for you. I had brought along my sword as a reference. I hope you like it. It's yours now." Paul gave the sword to Dean. Dean carefully pulled out the sword out of his scabbard. The sword shimmered in the light. Without having to feel it Lloyd could see that the sword was really sharp. Like the sword of his father it was shaped like a katana. Dean stepped outside the house and tried his new sword out as his parents stood by the side-lines. The sword felt great. It lay perfect in his hand and it was balanced in a perfect way for Dean. He could easily swing it around with one arm and with both arms, just like he was used to with his fighting style. A thought occurred to Dean as he was testing out his sword. It felt like he could use it to manipulate the wind. He charged the sword with a bit of mana and swung the sword really fast.

"Wind Gale!" Dean shouted as he created a shockwave together with a gust of wind. He could use this attack as a long distance attack. It was easier to perform than his magic spells and it took less time to do. His parents watched in awe as their son unleashed the attacked.

"Did you just teach yourself that technique" his father asked. Dean just nodded as he put the sword back in the scabbard. The scabbard even had a long strap on it. He arranged it like it hung on his back. Now he could easily draw his sword from his back. Sitting would be a little uncomfortable, but that would be the same with the sword on his belt. Besides he would be travelling the most of the time anyway. "You're not using an Exsphere and you can even unleash such an attack. You've become strong. I'm proud of you."

"It puts your mother's heart at ease with such a display of power." Linda said. "Come back inside. We'll help you with packing your stuff." Dean spent the rest of his day with his parents, half preparing and half relaxing. His mother wouldn't let him help with preparing dinner. It looked like she was preparing quite a feast. Dean sparred a bit with his father to kill time. They used wooden swords so that they wouldn't hurt each other too much. After disarming his father for ten times in a row, his father sighed and sat down on the ground. His father was panting while Dean felt like a had just done a good warm-up.

"That's enough Dean. I'm no match for you anymore. I can fight for a bit, but I'm still a farmer. I'm glad I could such a great fighter."

"You can fight really well dad. It's because of your training that I'm the man I am today. I need to be this strong. Some of the enemies I will face will be really strong monsters and if I encounter Desians then they will have Exspheres."

"Maybe you can ask Dirk if he has one left. You never know."

"Maybe, but I don't think so. I guess I'll steal one from a Desian should we encounter one."

"You've killed people today?" Paul asked after a silence.

"Yeah. It won't be the last time I fear. I don't try to think too much about it. I let it feel like any other monster I've defeated. That is was necessary. That's it was killed or be killed."

"You'll be fine. You're strong Dean. Just do as you've done. Don't think too much about it. Your mother and I won't look at you differently."

"Thanks dad."

"Dinner is ready! Freshen up and get over here or else the food will get cold!" Linded shouted. They washed themselves for a bit at the kitchen before sitting down at the table. Linda had prepared a real feast. All of Dean's favourite things were on the table. They all enjoyed the dinner to the most. At the end of dinner there was some knocking on the door. It was the professor. She had come to get him. They were all waiting for him. Dean grabbed his new sword and went along with the professor.

"Is that a new sword?" The professor asked him on the way to the northern exit of the village.

"It's a parting gift from my parents. They had Dirk make this for me." Dean explained.

"I see. Those two really love you, don't they?"

"They accepted me for who I am from the first day they took me in. They raised me as their own son. I'm really grateful to them. I'm very lucky."

"It's great to have a home filled with love to return to." For some reason Raine was looking sad when she said this.

"I'm sure the people of Iselia will welcome you back with open arms as well after the journey. They consider you as one of them. At least that's what I do." A smile appeared on the face of the woman as Dean said this.

"Thank you Dean." They had arrived at the northern exit. The others were waiting there. Kratos was looking impatient. Like he could be doing something better at this moment.

"Let's go." he said as they arrived. Genis was coming along as well. They had to cross Iselia forest on the way to the house of Lloyd. They encountered only a few monsters on the way there. Kratos was leading the front as Dean was guarding the back. Colette was walking next to him.

"You know, I've never been to Lloyd's place. I feel like a bad friend now." Dean said to Colette as he was eyeing his surroundings. He had been in this forest a few times before. This also had been the place where he had first unleashed his magic powers.

"Oh don't be. It's quite a way from the village." she replied.

"Oh I know, but I've been in this forest several times. I could have crossed it all the way and visit Lloyd sometimes."

"Well, you're going there now. At least you will have visited him one time."

"That's true, but that's only because you want to go to him to say goodbye. Have you been to Lloyd before?"

"Only a few times. I practically had to beg Phaidra and Frank if I wanted to visit Lloyd. They were always saying that it would be too dangerous to go. I would always had to ask Lloyd the day before if he wanted to pick me up, because I couldn't go otherwise."

"Well, I can understand their concern, but I guess it always felt like they were too overprotective, because you're the Chosen." She just nodded to this. There were some times where Dean thought he had seen something, but nothing seemed to like to attack such a large group. Surprisingly fast they were at Dirk's place. They wanted to enter, but they heard some shouting from inside. After a while an angry Lloyd leaving the house.

"Oh… Let me guess… you heard that just now?" Lloyd asked.

"I'm sorry, because of me, you…" Genis then said.

"It's okay, it's not your fault." Lloyd said. Dean apparently had missed something.

"Lloyd, you should speak to Colette. We'll wait here." Raine then said. With that everybody split up.

"Okay…" the boy in red replied.

"Lloyd, let's go up to the terrace." Colette proposed.

"Just a minute Colette. I need to cool off first. I don't want you talking to an angry Lloyd."

"Okay, I'll be waiting on the bench." Lloyd seemed to talk to the others before talking to Colette. Dean was standing at the place of the 'dog' Noishe. It was a green with white large creature. It acted like a dog, but it was way too big for one. Noishe was always scared of monsters, so he wasn't useful in battle unfortunately. After a while Lloyd came over to talk to Dean.

"I'm sorry for looking so angry before at the discussion. I had hoped you put up a good word for me." Lloyd said sincerely.

"No, I'm sorry for not being able to help you. I wanted to, but nothing what I would have said would have changed the minds of the others."

"It's okay."

"I still think Noishe is a fascinating creature. Where did you get him?"

"Well, he barks and whines like one, so I think he is a dog. Most people find it hard to get along with him. You seem to like him and he likes you too. And as for where I got him. Apparently he was my mom's. Noishe was guarding me when Dirk found me and my mom. He has watched over me ever since, although even the tiniest monster scares him."

"Your father loves you, you know."

"Where did that come from?"

"Well, I heard you two fighting. I think the only way he was acting like that is because he loves you and wants to protect you."

"Yeah, I know. You really are more grown-up than me Dean."

"I've always been like this. You know more how to have fun than me Lloyd. Take your time in growing up." Dean took a pause there. "I have a request for you Lloyd."

"What is it?"

"Can you look after the village when I'm gone? Check up on my parents from time to time."

"Alright." Lloyd didn't look at Dean when he said that.

"Now go to Colette. It's not nice to keep a lady waiting." Lloyd apparently had forgotten that he was supposed to talk to Colette, because he hurried up back to Colette. They went to the balcony to talk. Dean headed inside to look for Dirk.

"Excuse me Dirk." Dean said as he found the dwarf. Apparently he was working on something.

"Mmm? Oh, it's you. Dean was it?" the dwarf stopped working.

"Yes, It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise. Thank you for looking out for Lloyd. I've heard you two are good friends."

"Yes, Lloyd is a wonderful friend. Actually, I came to request something."

"I'll be glad to help a friend of Lloyd."

"Do you perhaps have an Exsphere with a Key Crest for me? I thought that maybe you did have one."

"Unfortunately not. I can understand that you might want one. Traveling alongside the Chosen on her journey is a dangerous thing indeed."

"That's too bad. Thanks for your time anymore."

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you."

"That's okay. The sword you made for me is perfect."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"I'll be going now. See you sometime again."

"Keep an eye out for Colette for me, will you lad?"

"I will, that's what I'm for anyway. Goodbye." Dean stepped outside again. It seemed like Lloyd and Colette were also almost done talking. He could see Colette leave the balcony. They waved Lloyd goodbye and went back to the village.

"You went inside to talk to Dirk inside, didn't you?" Genis asked Dean on the way back.

"Yes. I asked him if he had an Exsphere with a Key Crest for me, but unfortunately he didn't have one."

"You want one that bad? You're already strong."

"I might be, but an Exsphere will always come in handy. The journey is going to be dangerous. I can protect Colette better if I have one."

"You'd better make sure that Colette is safe, or you'll be sorry." the little elf suddenly said. Dean laughed at this.

"Don't worry about that. I will. You can punish me with your magic if I fail to protect her."

"Well, I'm glad that you will go along on the journey. Now I know that Colette won't be lonely on the journey."

"You take care of yourself and make sure that Lloyd stays out of trouble. He seems to attract trouble."

"Tell me about it." The rest of the journey back to the village the two of them were bringing back memories. Colette soon joined the conversation. Way too fast they were back at Iselia.

"We will leave at first light tomorrow. Make sure you're ready." Kratos said to Dean. They all said goodbye to each other. Dean was really nervous and wasn't tired although much had happened that day. He did go to bed on time. He was used to stand up early in the morning, so he always made sure he got enough sleep. Even though he wasn't sleepy, he fell asleep quite fast after lying down on his bed.

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><p><strong>I hope you enjoyed the chapter. The next chapter the group finally leaves Iselia. The story will follow my OC Dean, so the things that happens to Lloyd won't be told or you'll get a short version of what happened. Sorry Lloyd, OC Dean is the main character in my story.<strong>

**Please write a review, give me pointers and/or be a grammar nazi and help me improve my story.**


	3. The adventures in the desert

**Time for some more Tales of Symphonia fanfiction! Please enjoy this chapter as well.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. If I did, in the gamecube version every chapter would get a special attack and everyone would get at least two more awesome costumes to wear.**

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><p>As usual Dean was up before sunset. He spent this time checking if he had packed everything was in order. It was still done after he was done checking. He took his sword and wandered the village for a while, wanting to memorise every house. He wanted to remember how the village looked like. He could dream where everything was. It was his way of saying goodbye to the village and its people. When he almost done walking around he saw Kratos standing at the northern exit of the village. Dean approached the mercenary on a way that he could hear him, wanting not to surprise him.<p>

"You're up early." Dean said to the purple warrior.

"I could say the same thing to you." the man just replied.

"Well, I'm used to get up before sunlight. Every day I trained in the morning before class started."

"I see. Your body is used to being up this early."

"Well, I go to bed early to compensate. So, why are you up so early?" Dean asked Kratos.

"I'm used to get up early as well. It's always a good time to hunt just before sunlight. I woke up and I couldn't get back to sleep. I finished doing the checks as well. So I came here to think about things."

"I see. I just wanted to say goodbye to the village one last time. The sun will rise in about half an hour I think."

"Yes. I think the rest will wake up soon."

"I'm going back to my home to prepare breakfast. Want to join in?" Dean asked. He saw the man thinking about this offer. "Colette will be fine. We're inside the village, nothing will happen now." This somehow seemed made up the mind of the man.

"Then I'll take you up on your offer. Lead the way. I don't know where your house is."

"Oh, it's not far from here. Follow me." The walked to Dean's home in silence. At the house Dean prepared the breakfast as Kratos sat at the table in silence. Paul and Linda seemed to get up as well. They entered the living room after a few minutes.

"Good morning mom and dad." Dean said as his parents began to sit at the table, still sleepy. "Let me introduce you to Kratos. He's the mercenary who will accompany Colette together with me and the professor." His parents only now seemed to notice there was someone else at the table. "I invited him to breakfast since he was awake already as well. I hope you don't mind."

"No, not at all dear. Pleased to meet you sir. My name is Linda and this is my husband Paul." Linda said as she introduced herself and her lover.

"Pleased to meet you as well. Dean seems very capable with what he does. I think he will be a good asset to our journey." Kratos said.

"I'm glad to hear that." Paul said. "Please look after our son."

"I think he will be able to look after himself, but I will keep an eye out for him." Dean then put the breakfast on table. There were also some things he heated up from dinner from last night. He made sure they wouldn't get sick from this. After a good breakfast Dean made some lunch for himself that he could easily eat during travelling. Kratos asked him if he would make some him as well. Dean was surprised at this. He thought the man would have something like that already ready. He confronted the man with this.

"Normally I hunt during the travelling and take a small break during travelling to eat. This is the first time I will have lunch prepared with me on my travels. I also stock up on supplies in every town and village that I visit."

"I see."

"Have you travelled before?"

"No, this is my first time travelling."

"It won't be easy."

"I expect that it won't be easy. I just hope that the desert won't kill me."

"Yes, that will be a hard part of our journey. Now, let's meet up with the others. We will leave soon. Grab your stuff." Dean and Kratos went to Colette's house. Luckily Colette was waiting for them, ready with her stuff. Raine came shortly after Dean and Kratos arrived. As they walked towards the southern exit they were greeted by the rest of the village. They all came to say goodbye to the Chosen One and wish her a good journey. Dean noticed that Genis was there too, but Lloyd was nowhere to be seen.

"I don't see Lloyd anywhere." Dean said out loud.

"Yes. I told him that we would leave at noon." Colette answered.

"Why would you do that?"

"He still wanted to come along. The journey is too dangerous. So I told him the wrong time on purpose. I left him a letter at my old home."

"It takes courage to do such a thing." the professor said. "I think you've done the right thing."

"Yeah, I know." Colette wasn't happy about lying, but more than that she wanted to protect her friend.

"Let's go." Kratos said. He decided there had been enough goodbyes. And like that they left. Dean had given his parents one last hug before leaving. In the beginning of the travelling Dean had talked a bit to Colette, Raine and Kratos, but after a while he ran out of things to say. Colette was the same. They encountered only a few monsters one the first day. They decided that everybody would cook in turns. They had divided the cooking gear Dean had taken along. His backpack had been a lot heavier than the rest due to this. Dean had brought up what they would do with cooking every day. The rest just stared at him, wondering what had been talking about. Dean didn't expect that Kratos didn't cook during travelling. When Dean explained that he had taken along some cooking gear they had decided to divide the cooking gear, since it was the most heavy stuff they had taken with them. Dean had proposed that they would take turn cooking dinner. The rest had agreed to that. Dean wondered in what style Kratos was used to when it came to travelling. Dean had volunteered to cook the first time. The herbs he had brought along really came in hand. Everybody really enjoyed the meal he had cooked. Even Kratos seemed impressed with this. He even said that he had no trouble with travelling like this. Dean had thought the mercenary would have thought this kind of travelling ridiculous. Kratos and Raine took turns standing guard the first night. There was a House of Salvation on the way to Triet which was their next destination. Travelling to that point would take a couple of days. The travelling after that would get much harder since that they would enter the desert. Every morning Dean would go hunting and gathering herbs and eatable berries. Kratos had agreed to this idea. Most of the flora and fauna Dean had seen so far was the same as the area around Iselia. The travelling was hard for Dean as he wasn't used to walk the whole day, but it was harder for Colette. She said that she was doing fine, but they took small breaks after walking for a few hours during the day. Dean was glad with the breaks as well, but he tried not to show. They arrived at the House of Salvation a bit later than they had anticipated. They arrived there in the afternoon. The priests at the House of Salvation welcomed their guests with open arms. As they heard that the Chosen of Mana was among the group they treated the group to dinner and insisted that they stayed the night. Kratos wanted to move on, but after Raine said that it was better for Colette as she wasn't used to travelling he had stopped insisting to move on. So they took on the offer the priests had made. Raine had given Dean and Colette some homework to work on during the travels and was now teaching the two as they had time of. After studying for a bit Dean polished his sword, wanting to keep his sword in top shape. The priests had given the group extra provisions and some water sacks that they would need to cross the desert. Dean had gone hunting that morning again and had come back with a monster wolf. He had taken out the eatable parts outside the House of Salvation. There wasn't enough room to take all of the meat, so he had given the rest, which was quite a lot of meat, to the priests. They thanked him and gave him their blessing. After breakfast together with the rest of the travellers and the priests they left once again for Triet.

"You're quite the hunter." Kratos said as we were nearing the desert.

"Thanks. It's actually easier to go after the bigger monsters. They don't fear humans that much. A lot of monsters look like animals and I've learned that you can eat their meat just fine. You need to be fast with taking out the eatable parts though. Because of the mana in the air the remains disappears quite fast."

"Do you use your magic with the hunting?"

"Yup. I can only use wind and lighting magic. Most of the monsters are weak against attacks around the neck. I use my wind magic to cut open their neck. They often die soon after that. After I walk towards the monsters, wary if other monsters might be near the monsters has died by the time I arrive."

"Impressive. That means you can control your magic just fine."

"Thanks. The professor taught me how to control my magic. During hunting the control over my magic just got better and better."

"Mmm… So you can use magic. Do you know how to defend against magic?"

"No, I don't know. I've never figured a good way how to do that."

"Then I'll teach you tomorrow morning. It'll be good if everyone in our group learns how to defend against magic."

"Sounds fine to me."

"Would you also like to spar in the morning? You can keep up with your skills like that."

"Really? I've been wondering if you wanted to help me improve my swordsmanship, but I thought you didn't want to get earlier in order to teach me."

"I don't mind at all. It will make the journey easier if you improve your swordsmanship. Do you know any artes?"

"Artes? You know sword techniques? Well, I know one. I don't have an Exsphere, so it's harder for me to perform such difficult techniques."

"Then I'll help you with learning some artes. You don't need an Exsphere in order to do some. Show what you can in the morning. I'll help where I can."

"Thank you." That day they entered the desert. The heath was overwhelming and they had to ration their water carefully. They were really glad that the priests had handed them some extra water sacks. Only now did they realise how much they needed them. The next morning Kratos got up the same time as Dean. Raine was also awake and she would look after Colette. First Kratos wanted to see what Dean could do.

"We'll start sparring first. By fighting you myself I can get a better idea what your skills are. It could be that I have little to nothing to teach you. We'll fight each other with real weapons, so we must be careful that we won't kill each other. Are you ready?" Dean nodded, drawing his weapon. "Then here I come." Kratos was fast, faster than any other person or monster Dean had ever fought. Dean managed to defend himself against Kratos' attacks just barely and had to go on the defence. He tried to counterattack a bit too, but the guard of the mercenary was perfect and the man left no openings at all. They kept sparring like this for a few minutes, but it was clear that Kratos had the upper hand and that he could the battle anytime he wanted.

"Mmm… Your footwork is impressive. It seems only experience can make you stronger. Now let me show me your magic and your artes." So Dean showed Kratos several air magic artes, he had mastered Wind Blade, Air Trust and Air Blade and he showed Kratos the damage his lightning magic could do.

"I haven't yet mastered this magic attack yet, but I'll show you anyway." Dean said as he started concentrating intensely. He gathered the mana around him and had to focus real hard in order to release the spell where he wanted to. "Spark Wave!" Dean shouted. A huge floating ball of electricity appeared at the spot where the was a tree. The tree was devoured by the magic spell. The spell lingered for a few seconds before it faded away. Only the bottom of the tree was left. "It is my most powerful spell until now, but it takes a lot of time before the magic attacked is charged. It is also really hard to attack a moving monster or person with this attack. It drains my mana as well."

"Your magic is very impressive. Your lightning magic is more destructive than your wind magic, but also harder to use." Kratos said. His eyes were more lit up than before. "To have come this far on your own, that is no simple task."

"Thank you."

"You said you could perform one arte with you sword. Show it to me." Dean unsheathed his sword. He charged the sword with a bit of his mana, then swung it and unleashed the mana inside the sword. This was more easy to do then to cast a magic spell.

"Wind Gale!" Dean shouted as he unleashed the shockwave of wind.

"So you can unleash elemental attacks with your sword as well. Interesting. It is hard to believe that you aren't using a Exsphere. Even for someone who has trained since he childhood, you seem to have a certain talent for these things. Otherwise you wouldn't have reached this level already."

"Your words honour me Kratos."

"I have very few to teach you. I can give you some tips, but you will need to improve on your own techniques. I'll think about some attacks you can learn. I'll show you a simple arte, you will be able to do this on your own." Kratos unsheathed his sword once again and took a battle stance. "Sonic Trust!" He shouted as he dashed forward while trusting his sword at a great speed. Kratos unleashed the attacks a few more times, letting Dean observe the attack. "Now you try. I think you have a grasp on with needs to be done." Dean nodded. He took a deep breath. Once again he charged his sword with mana. He then trusted his sword forward and he let the mana unleashed only from the tip of his sword.

"Sonic Trust!" Dean shouted as he successfully copied the attack Kratos had shown him.

"Very nice. Try practising that attack some more this training and I'm sure you will be able to use it in battle." Kratos watched as Dean practised the attack some more. With each time Dean performed the arte, it felt easier to do than the last time. "Very good." Kratos then said. "Perhaps you will be able to do this attack as well. It's similar to the Sonic Trust, but try to add the element of wind to your blade and you will be able to use this attack. Observe. Hurricane trust!" Kratos used the same kind of attack, but this time a blast of wind was released at the tip of his sword as he unleashed the attack. Dean charged his sword with mana and the element of wind just like he would do to perform his Wind Gale attack.

"Hurricane Trust!" Dean shouted as he unleashed the attack. The blast of wind that came from the tip of his sword was less powerfull than when Kratos had used it.

"Impressive. You have a knack for using your magic while fighting with a sword."

"Yes, but it still didn't feel like it was good enough. I want to practise this attack some more." Dean unleashed the attack Huricane Trust until he got tired and noticed that his mana was running out. With each time the attack seemed to get a bit more powerful and Dean was content at the end.

"You will turn into a fine swordsman Dean. An Exsphere would indeed be useful, but you are strong enough as you are now. You will keep improving as well. Training is over."

"Thank you Kratos. You are most kind." They would train every morning to keep themselves in shape. Dean prepared some breakfast after that. After the breakfast Kratos taught them how to defend themselves against magic attacks. The clue was that you would create a magic shield around you. You had to cast the mana around your body in the form of an orb. The longer you kept this magic shield around you, the more mana it would consume. Kratos advised to only use it when it was really necessary. After the short explanation and some practice the group continued with travelling. The travelling was really hard on them. The nights in the desert were really cold and the days were really hot. Dean knew enough. He didn't want to live in such a place. There were almost no plants here. The monsters that wandered around in these parts were all poisonous. Dean preferred to take the monsters out from a distance with his magic. They had to rely on their provisions. There was nothing out in the desert they could hunt for. The days went by slowly. They ate lunch while travelling. They didn't stop anymore for a rest, there was no escape from the heat of the sun in this desert. After three long days they finally arrived in Triet. They were greeted with open arms. Everybody was really thirsty, but there was enough water in the village as it lies next to an oasis. They gathered information in the village about the Fire Seal. They found out it was only a day travelling away from Triet. It was told that it was at a place where they used to be an oasis. The oasis however was destroyed by the Summon Spirit Efreet when it went out of control. They met a Fortune Teller in Triet and Colette insisted that her fortune should be told. The fortune teller told Colette that she would find great love and happiness in her life. Colette seemed a bit sad after her fortune was told. The fortune teller was probably a hoax. They slept at the inn in Triet, all tired from the travelling. Kratos even proposed this plan, saying we need to regain our strength. Dean didn't mind at all. He was growing to hate the desert and everything that had to do with it.

They next morning they decided to leave for the Fire Seal, but then someone approached the group as they were about to leave.

"Excuse me, but are you the Chosen's group?" a man asked us.

"Yes, why do you ask?" Raine answered.

"I have a request for the Chosen One. The people of this village need help. A terrible sand monster lives in the desert. It has attacked all the caravans that transport food to Triet. Our own traders are afraid to go while that monster still lurks around these parts. At this rate we won't be able to trade anymore at all for food. Everyone in Triet will starve to dead. We don't know what to do anymore. Please help us!" The man pleaded for help.

"Of course we will help you. The Goddess Martel teaches us to help those in need so we will do just that." Colette said to the man.

"Are you sure Colette?" Dean asked. "It sounds like this monster is really though."

"The Chosen has made up her mind. We will go where she goes. That is our job." Kratos then said.

"Do you have any lead where this monster might be at this moment?" Raine asked. "We can't really search the whole desert."

"Ah yes. The monster is a little bit to the east of Triet. People encounter the monster most of the time while they are headed for Ossa Trail. May Martel watch over you." The man left with saying this. They then headed east, in the opposite direction they were meant to go. Over about half an hour walking through they saw some kind of small sandstorm up ahead. From the point of the 'sandstorm' there emerged a huge worm monster.

"That thing is huge!" Dean shouted. "We're supposed to defeat that? How are we going to do that?"

"It seems in this fight we must try to survive rather than slaying this monster." Kratos explained. The monster was getting closer by the second.

"All right. Here is the plan." Dean said. He had already thought of a plan. "Kratos and I will first attack the monster from a distance with magic. After the monster is near we will split up. We will try to confuse the monster by attacking it from several directions. Raine and Colette will stay here. I will attack from one side and Kratos from the other side. Professor, please use your healing magic and your supportive spells to protect us from the beast. Colette, don't draw too much of the monster's attention. Everybody ready? Go!"

"Wait, let me first analyse the elemental weakness of this creature." the professor said. She then pulled out some kind of lens and looked at the monster through this lens. "Just as I thought, it's weak to the element of wind. Hit it with your wind magic!"

"Got it. Wind Blade!" Kratos and Dean unleashed their wind magic on the worm. It was getting closer, but because of its size it wasn't fast. Dean used his wind spells Wind Blade, Air Trust and Air Blade on the monster. Kratos used Wind Blade and Air Trust. The monster was growing a little bit weaker, but it still it kept getting closer. Kratos nodded to Dean and that was the signal to splits up. When Dean got closer he realised the true size of the monster. There was no way they could defeat this monster. They could only hope to hurt it enough to scare it away. The monster was heading for Colette and the professor. Dean attacked with his sword, tearing the flesh of the monster apart. A strange liquid emerged from the places where it was cut. Dean used his Hurricane Trust on the same spot several times so make a huge wound on the monster. Now the humongous worm turned his attention to Dean. Dean now had to do his best to evade and defend against the attacks of the worm. The worm let out a sandstorm from inside its mouth and blew Dean away. They sand tore away at his skin. The monster now turned his attention to Colette again. Dean felt a warm and soothing feeling. The smaller cuts on his body disappeared. The professor was healing him from a distance. Dean got closer again. He headed towards the wound he had inflicted before again. He then prepared a magic spell. Dean unleashed his Air Blast right inside the wound of the worm again. The magic attacked blasted away through the inner parts of the monster. The worm then let out some kind of scream, clearly it was in pain. It then dived into the sand again. Colette and the professor got knocked away by the monster while it dived. Dean and Kratos ran towards them, checking if they were alright. Fortunately their wounds were nothing serious. Kratos and Raine used their healing with to patch everyone up again. They decided to go back to Triet to rest and spread the news. The monster wasn't dead yet, but it was wounded and wouldn't attack any travellers or traders soon.

"Your strategy worked." Kratos said to Dean.

"Yeah, we were lucky. It was a risky one though. If we couldn't have taken it out, the beast would have taken us out one by one."

"It was the best course of action we could have taken at that time. Although it is true what you said. We were lucky this time."

"Let's hope the monsters at the Seal of Fire aren't this strong." They walked in silence for a while then. Colette then walked over to Dean.

"Wow Dean. You were great back there. I'm sorry I couldn't be of any help."

"Thanks. And don't be sorry. We all had to go all out against that monster. I've nearly used up all of my mana. I think I will need to rely on my swordsmanship for a while before I can use magic again. With everything that happened, we're lucky to be alive after an encounter with that monster."

"But still you were awesome. You also told us what to do again. You're so good at so many things. It makes me kind of jealous."

"You, jealous of me? Don't be silly. You always seem to cheer people up wherever you go. It's always fun to hang around with you. You also carry a huge burden. I really admire your strength Colette." The blond girl blushed for a bit.

"You really mean that?" she asked.

"Yeah. I really like you Colette."

"I like you too Dean." That remark somehow made Dean blush for a bit as well. There was an awkward silence after that. Dean decided to fall back a bit to talk with the professor this time. Although he could already see Triet in the distance.

"Did that sound like a love confession?" Dean asked the professor.

"What? You confessed your love to Colette?" the professor asked startled.

"I don't think I have… I'm not really sure…"

"I'm sorry Dean. I wasn't following your conversation with Colette."

"Lost in thought professor?"

"Yes. That monster was quite interesting. I wonder how long it must have lived and how long it has roamed this desert, killing everything that it sets its sight on."

"That reminds me. How did you know what the elemental weakness of the monster was? You used some kind of lens."

"Yes, I used this Magic Lens of mine. It lets me see the weakness of any monster I set my eyes on when I'm using it. It only uses a little bit of my mana. I've modified it myself so it will also transfer the data of the monster to this book of mine." The professor then took out a book of her. "I've stored all the data of the monsters we've encountered so far in this book. It was my intention to study monsters while I was on this journey."

"Wow, that's really something. Can you give us the elemental weakness of the monsters we encounter from now on? It will really help us."

"Yes, I will do that."

"Thanks professor." The group once again entered the village called Triet. They quickly found the man that he asked them for help and told him what happened. He was happy that the monster would be gone for at least a while. The group then grabbed something to eat and rested for a while. They then saw a familiar face.

"Genis?" Dean asked out loud. "Genis?! Is that you?!" Dean shouted towards a silver haired boy. The boy quickly ran towards the group.

"Boy am I glad to see you. Lloyd's in trouble!" Genis said.

"Calm down Genis. Tell us what happened. Why are you here?" Raine asked her little brother.

"It's quite a long tale. I'll tell you on the way. We need to hurry!"

"Very well. Let's go." Kratos said. The group quickly paid for their meal and ate the rest on the way.

"Lloyd's been captured by those weird Desians who we encountered in Iselia at the temple. I'll start at the beginning. On the day of the oracle I went to see a friend of mine at the human ranch, her name was Marble. Lloyd came along with me. The Desians at the ranch saw she wasn't doing anything for a short while and decided to punish her for no reason. We got to high ground. We couldn't stand to do nothing. I used my magic to attack the Desians as Lloyd distracted the guards. All was going well, but then I tripped and the Desians caught on to me. Lloyd defeated the Desians, but somehow he was spotted. On the day you guys left the village was attacked. Many people died. The Desians then sent out a monster to punish Lloyd. Lloyd and I defeated the monster, but the monster seemed to be Marble. She distracted the Desians and somehow exploded. All that was left of her was this Exsphere. They Desians noticed the Exsphere on Lloyd as well and said that they would pursue Lloyd from now on. They said his Exsphere was special. After that the Desians left the village. The mayor then banished both Lloyd and me out of the village. We went to the village of Triet. At the moment we arrived Triet we saw some Desians. They were hanging some weird posters of Lloyd all over the place. We managed to hide, but we got spotted. Thankfully we defeated those Desians too, but then Lloyd was hit by some electrical attack and passed out. We were taken to the Triet Ranch. I managed to deceive the enemy that Lloyd had dragged me around and that I was innocent. I didn't know what to do so I panicked and went to Triet. That's where we met you guys."

"That's quite a story. It was foolish of you to go to the ranch Genis." The professor said after Genis was done talking. We had all listened until the silverhaired boy was done talking.

"I-I know… It's because of us that Marble died and the village got attacked." Genis said with a sad voice.

"The consequences of your actions have been enough punishment for you two." Kratos said. "Make sure you don't make the same mistake again."

"Genis. I have to ask. Did you see Paul and Linda?" Dean asked. He only was worried about his parents at the moment.

"I don't know. I'm sorry. So many things happened." The news made Dean only make worry more and more.

"Let's focus on the task at hand Dean. Maybe Lloyd knows what happened to your parents." Kratos said to Dean. He had seen the worry on the face of Dean. Colette had been silent the whole time, probably worried about Lloyd.  
>"You're right. I'm just worried, that's all. Let's rescue Lloyd first." After a little walk the saw the Triet Base in the distance. Thankfully there were some sand hills near the base where they could hide.<p>

"Alright, what's the plan?" Dean asked. "We can't just storm right in. The guards at the front will raise the alarm immediately."

"We can take the guards at the front out with magic from a distance. From there out we will just have to search the base." Kratos said.

"I don't like it, but it seems we have no better option. Let's do this then. If Genis, I and Kratos all unleash our magic attacks at the same time we can take out the guards in one shot." The three magic users then prepared their spells. There were only two guards at the front. They were taken out by magic before they knew what was hitting them. The group then entered the base. They immediately encountered more enemies. They fought themselves through the base. They then saw a lot of 'Desians' running to a certain room. They figured that Lloyd must have escaped and entered the room as well. They then saw Lloyd. He was being surrounded by a group of 'Desians'. There was one bearded man with them who they had seen at the temple of Iselia as well.

"Lloyd! Are you okay?" Genis asked.

"Are you all right? Are you hurt?" Colette asked.

"He looks fine." Kratos just stated.

"You guys all came for me?" Lloyd asked surprised. He was really happy to see his friends.

"Perfect timing. I'll take care of everyone at once!" the bearded man said as he pulled out his sword. It was a giant red sword with all sorts of decorations. It seemed to be magically enhanced.

"Get ready everybody!" Dean shouted. He then got close to Kratos. "Please take care of the big guy. we'll try to take care of the rest. Then we'll come and assist you as soon as possilbe." Dean said in a soft voice to Kratos. Kratos nodded and stormed at the bearded man. Colette was busy defending the professor and Genis as they were casting their spells. Lloyd was being attacked by the bearded man and another enemy, but Kratos soon came to help him. Dean first went after the enemies with crossbows. The crossbowmen were focussing too much on the others and noticed Dean too late. Dean had to dodge some arrows from up close and the arrows scraped by him, tearing his flesh away. The men didn't have time to take out their swords and were killed by Dean because of this. Then Dean noticed there was a magic user as well. He ran for the magic user and disrupted his spell. The man was using some kind of steel wand. The magic user could fight really well with the weapon at close range. Dean got hit by the steel wand on purpose so he could finish the magic user off with his sword. The attack had hit him hard and Dean was in pain. As he slowly walked towards the bearded man he could feel a warm sensation running through his body and the pain faded away. The professor must have healed him. Dean snuck up from behind.

"Sonic Trust!" Dean unleashed this arte at his enemy, but for a big man the enemy managed to dodge the attack almost entirely even though Dean had wanted to surprise him. The sword of Dean cut through the side of the man. After that Dean, Kratos and Lloyd all swung their swords at the time at the man. He held up his sword to defend against the attacks, but the weapon couldn't take the combined force of all weapons and broke.

"Ugh… I underestimated your abilities. My name is Botta and we'll get you next time for sure." The man called Botta said to them. He threw his broken weapon at them and then ran away.

"That guy was though… He managed to keep Lloyd and Kratos at bay at the same time." Dean remarked. The professor then came forward and picked up the broken sword.

"Isn't this a…" The professor started to say.

"Professor!" Lloyd shouted.

"Ah, Lloyd. Genis told me what happened. I apologize for the trouble he's caused you." Raine glanced at her little brother while she said that.

"No, I'm the one that dragged Genis into it. I'm sorry." Lloyd said back.

"Save the chitchat for later. We shouldn't stay here long." Kratos intervened.

"The way is clear. Let's hurry before the reinforcements arrive." Now that they saved Lloyd the group quickly escaped the base. Outside they encountered Noishe. The creature had been following them since Triet.

"Noishe! You came, too?" Lloyd said happily. The creature made some kind of whining sound.

"Lloyd I have a question. This crystalline object attached to this weapon… Is this one of the Exspheres that Genis spoke of?" The professor asked while they were walking towards Triet, leaving the Triet Base behind them.

"It would seem so." Kratos answered.

"Oh yeah, you use an Exsphere too." Lloyd said to Kratos.

"…So you noticed."

"Well, duh."

"What are they, exactly?" The professor asked Lloyd. She asked the question that had been on the mind of Dean as well.

"It will take a while to explain. We can talk about it when we reach Triet." Kratos said to the group. They slowly kept on walking through the desert. All were tired from the fighting of day. The heat of the desert was also tiring them out. Dean got closer to Lloyd on the way to Triet.

"Um… I hate to bring this up, but I have to ask. Back in Iselia, did you see Paul or Linda? Were they hurt? I have to know!" Dean pleaded to Lloyd.

"Your parents? I think I saw them back at the village. They didn't say anything when the mayor banished us from the village. They both were hurt."

"Was it bad?"

"I don't know. I couldn't see. My thoughts weren't exactly with them with them at the moment." Dean clenched his teeth. He had to know if his parents were okay. He couldn't live with the idea that one of them was badly injured and that they needed his help. He tried to focus on the moment, but his thoughts just kept going back to the wellbeing of his parents. Dean guarded the back for the rest of the way back to Triet. By evening they arrived at Triet.

"I'm so beat. I want to rest." Genis said. Everybody agreed to that.

"Yeah. Let's head to the inn and then talk." Lloyd said. At the inn they had dinner. It was nice that food was being prepared for them for once. Dean's thoughts weren't at the food at all though. He couldn't even remember what the food had tasted like after he had finished it. Lloyd and Kratos then explained the workings of Exsphere, that they improved the strength and abilities of a person that that person could only have reached after training a long time, but also that Exspheres were dangerous without a Key Crest. Dean wasn't paying much attention. The others were listening though. Raine was just fascinated by the Exsphere.

"… In other words, these Exspheres are amplifiers that awaken our dormant capabilities." The professor summarised what had been explained to her. "I wonder if I could use one too?"

"That would be difficult. Exspheres are harmful to the body without a Key Crest." Kratos said.

"Um… Can't we make a Key Crest?" Colette asked.

"That's not so easy." Lloyd explained. "They Key Crest is made by processing inhibitor ore, then engraving it with a crest to control the Exsphere attached to its surface. This is a secret art only known to the dwarves. I can engrave the crest, but only my dad can process the ore."

"Well, is there any inhibitor ore among these materials?" The professor grabbed her bag and pulled out several objects.

"Raine! Did you bring these from our house?!" Genis asked surprised.

"Of course. They're valuable research materials." The professor pointed at each of the objects as she explained what they were. "This is a holy vase from the Balacruf Mausoleum. This is a jewelled sword from the Martel Temple. This is a priest's crown from the Asgard ruins. This is yellow ore from the Hima mines…" Dean wondered where she had gotten all of those objects. The professor must have travelled a lot more than he had first thought.

"What the? It's all junk!" Lloyd said clearly not under the impression of the valuable pieces that were lying in front of him. Raine got angry at Lloyd for this of course.

"What did you just say?!" the professor shouted to Lloyd. Lloyd was frightened by the professor. Kratos seemed to pick up a glowing stone.

"Hmm? This is…" the mercenary said. Raine turned towards Kratos.

"Ah, I picked that up in front of the human ranch one day. It was engraved with angelic language, so I took it home." She explained.

"Professor! This a Key Crest!" Lloyd said happily. The red boy overcame his fear of the professor quite fast.

"The crest is half worn off. It's unusable like this." Kratos said. Dean wondered how the man seemed to know so much about everything. Lloyd took the Key Crest from Kratos.

"I can fix that. Don't worry, Professor, you'll be able to equip that Exsphere tomorrow." Lloyd said to the professor.

"Really?! Thank you, Lloyd! I'm sorry to make you go through the trouble, but I appreciate it." Lloyd quickly went to his room to grab the stuff he needed to fix the Key Crest. Apparently he had taken along some tools with him on his journey. The professor had her relics. Lloyd had his tools. What kind of things were the rest carrying around? And they thought that bringing cooking tools along the journey was weird. Dean's thoughts then went back to his parents again. He had been silent the whole. Normally he would have been quite excited about the Exsphere as well, but this evening he didn't feel like himself. He just wanted to be alone and rest. What he really wanted was to go back to Iselia to check on his parents. He didn't feel tired and decided to go outside to get some fresh air. He wandered around the village for a bit. It wasn't long before he heard someone approaching him. He turned around to see who it was. It was Kratos. Deans spotted a bench nearby and sat on it. The mercenary followed his example.

"You don't seem like yourself tonight." the mercenary stated.

"You noticed? Yeah… You're right. I keep thinking about my parents. I can't shake away the feelings that something happened to them and that they need my help." Dean said concerned.

"I understand your concern, but is the wellbeing of your parents that important? Ask yourself this question. What is more important? The wellbeing of the Chosen or that of your parents. I'll be blunt. If your parents die the world would have lost two very good people, but if the Chosen One dies, the world will die."

"I know what you're saying. I think the same way, but the feelings won't go away. I think I just need a little bit of time. Thanks for your concern Kratos."

"I'm merely making sure that the Chosen is well protected. That's all." Kratos then left. "Make sure you get enough sleep. We will leave early again tomorrow and don't forget our training." The mercenary always seemed to do everything to make sure his job is done the best way, but Dean just thought he truly is a kind man. He just didn't want anyone to see it. He seemed to keep his distance from the group on purpose. Dean wondered why. Dean sat there for a while in silence. He then saw someone else getting close. It was Colette. She sat down next to him.

"You're out alone late. Is something wrong Dean?" the blond girl asked.

"So you noticed too. I'm just concerned about my parents, that's all."

"I understand. I also want to go back and check on Phaidra and Frank, but the Journey of Regeneration is too important. We've just begun. I can't stop now." The girl confessed.

"Yeah, you're right. You carry a heavy burden Colette and you know it. The fate of the world is weighing down on your shoulders. Isn't it too big?"

"I try not to think about it too much. I just want to enjoy this journey to the fullest and help as many people as possible as I can."

"You're strong Colette."

"You're strong too Dean!" the girl said as she tried to cheer me up.

"You're strong in another way than me. My magic and my swordsmanship is really good. That is my strength. You can carry the burden of the world and not collapse under it. I would have collapsed under it if I were the Chosen."

"Well… There is a reason why I'm able to carry it." The girl whispered. She was trying to make sure that Dean didn't hear it.

"And that reason is?" Dean asked.

"Dean, Colette! Come back inside. You need to go to bed." the professor shouted. Colette didn't answer my question. We just went back inside. They both went to bed immediately. Dean now was concerned about Colette and his parents. He fell asleep that night, but only after laying awake for a long time. In the morning Kratos woke him. Dean had never had that much trouble waking up before, but now he almost fell back asleep standing.

"I told you that you should have gone back to bed earlier." Kratos just said impatient as he noticed how slow Dean was that morning.

"I couldn't get to sleep at all." Dean responded as he let out a big yawn. They went a bit outside of Triet. They first sparred for a bit as a warming up. After that they fought more serious with even using artes on each other. Kratos was still on the upper hand in the fight, but Dean didn't let himself get defeated that fast. The guard of the mercenary was flawless. Dean's thoughts sometimes strayed away from the training and he was punished for that. Dean did get a few bruises and cuts from the training, but he didn't mind. After the training was done Kratos used his magic to heal him. It could get infected if they didn't heal the cuts.

"Make sure you get enough sleep tonight." Kratos said and left. Dean wanted to follow Kratos, but he thought he saw something in the distance.

"I think I see something. I'm going to check it out. You go ahead."

"Do as you wish. It's probably nothing." Dean saw something shimmering a little further ahead. He walked towards it. Suddenly he heard something. Dean jumped back a bit, not trusting the sound. At the spot where he had been there was now an arrow. There suddenly jumped two men and a woman out of the sand. One of them was shooting arrows at him. Dean deflected the arrows. The other man had a knife and was carefully approaching him. The woman was casting spells. Dean suddenly rushed forward at the man with the knife. The man was no amateur however and dodged the attacks Dean was trying to land. It was hard to attack while there was someone shooting arrows at him. The woman fired three fireballs at him. Dean used the anti-magic shield to defend against it. The man with the knife was getting careless and attacked him with full force. Dean dodged his attacks and used his Wind Gale to wound the man. He then quickly finished the man off. The woman fired the fireballs again at Dean, but Dean was able to dodge them this time. He first went after the man with the bow and arrows. He man panicked and the arrows he shot weren't even going into the direction where Dean was. Dean cut the bow apart and then stabbed the man with his sword. The woman was running away. Dean used his magic and killed the woman from a distance.

"It's killed or be killed." Dean murmured. He didn't want to kill the woman, but she could come back and get revenge. It was more safe to kill her now than to give her another chance at killing him. This killing left a bad taste in his mouth. He searched the men to find out who they were, but besides their weapons they weren't carrying anything else around. Dean then decided to go back to Triet, but then he heard the same noise again and had to dodge another arrow. Now there appeared Desians out of nowhere. Dean was suddenly surrounded.

"Put your weapon down and come with us quietly." one of the Desians said.

"What do you people want from me?" Dean asked not putting his sword away.

"You've caught the attention of one of our Leaders. Now put away your weapon away or suffer the consequences." Dean looked around him. There were at least ten Desians. They were surrounding him in a circle. Most of them were carrying crossbows. If he made one move they would be able to kill immediately. Dean put his sword in his scabbard. "Now throw your weapon on the ground." Dean did as they said. One of the Desians picked up his weapon. "Now follow me." The Desian who was in charge walked towards the direction of Iselia. Dean walked in the same direction, waiting for a chance to escape or hoping that the others would grow worried and would leave Triet and saw him and the Desians. That didn't happen however. He was suddenly hit in the neck with great force and he passed out.

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><p><strong>Things aren't looking good for OC Dean. I know, I'm not a writer who is really nice to his characters. Next chapter you'll find out in how much trouble OC Dean really is.<strong>


	4. The Nightmare

**This chapter is shorter than I wanted it to be, but I didn't have anything left to write in this chapter. **

**OC Dean is captured by the Desians. The good and peaceful days are over. What will the Desians do to him and will he escape? Find out here!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own!**

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><p>Dean woke up inside a human ranch. He had no idea how long he had been unconscious. He was garbed in a simple brown robe which smelled like sweat and urine. He was inside some kind of cell. He was surrounded by all sort of people. The people weren't talking. They were just standing, sitting or lying down. They all had this desperate stare in their eyes. These people had lost all hope. Dean couldn't see what time it was. There was some sort of artificial lighting in the cells. Dean walked around and looked outside the cell. Before him was a room completely made out of some sort of white metal. The room was big and he could see some staircases, but nothing else. There were a couple of guards walking around. They were looking bored and sometimes used the whips they were carrying around to hit people for no reason. Dean tried talking to the people here, but all he got in return was a blank stare. Dean didn't like this place. He had tried to use his magic several times, but he couldn't. There was now some kind of ring on one of the fingers of his left hand. The ring wouldn't come off no matter what he tried. Dean figured that the ring somehow seemed to make sure that he couldn't use magic anymore. Dean tried to find a way to escape from the cell, but it was no use. He couldn't find any way of escape. Dean then decided to preserve his strength for whatever seemed to happen next. Things were looking grave. After some time two Desians called out Dean's name. He got up and walked towards the cell. They let only Dean out of the cell. The cells were all opened at the same time, but no one tried to escape. The two Desians let Dean follow them throughout the building where he was. The place was really big and like a maze. At the beginning Dean had tried to remember where they were going, but after a while he gave up. His two guards then let him step on a warp panel. Dean arrived in some kind of office. There was all sort of machinery around and complicated looking things that Dean hadn't seen before. There was a man with lime green hair sitting in a big chair. He had a cannon wrapped around one of his arms. He had an eye patch at his right eye. He was wearing a golden breastplate, with a black shirt underneath it and a red vest above it. He was wearing tight black pants with big heavy boots. The man looked dangerous and had an air of authority around him.<p>

"Speak your name human." The man said.

"My name is Dean. Might I know the name of the man whose subordinates captured me?" Dean asked. He knew that being rebellious would give him nothing. It was better to follow orders than to get punished for no good reason.

"There were rumours that you were polite. Normally I wouldn't give my name to such an inferior being, but I'm in a good mood today so consider yourself lucky. I am Forcystus, one of the give Grand Cardinals and leader of the Iselia Human Ranch."

"I'm back at Iselia?" Dean asked.

"We've been looking years for you and you've been living right under our nose all this time, but we'll never let you go now that we've found you." Forcystus said ignoring Dean.

"What are you talking about?" Dean asked surprised. This man, this Desian knew him. They had been searching for him. What the hell was this man talking about.

"Ah right. You don't remember, do you? So that rumour was also true then. Our leader did a good job this time."

"How do you people know me?"

"You think that we'll just tell you? You should worry more about what's going to happen to you than about that stupid human." This man despised humans. Dean was certain of that. The hate inside this man was ever present.

"Then for what reason have you brought me? It's not to first confuse me and then don't tell me anything, is it?" Dean then asked angrily. They were playing around with him and he didn't like it.

"We're going to transport you to another ranch. The warp panel leading to the Asgard Human Ranch is in this room. That is all. Normally we don't use this warp panel, unless in an emergency, but this time is special." The man was smiling. He was enjoying keeping Dean in the dark. A guard then pushed Dean into another room. There was nothing in the room except for another wall. The guard pushed Dean towards the wall and Dean thought he was going to walk against the wall, but he just walked right through the wall. The wall was some kind of an illusion. The room he was now in was filled with more strange machines. In the middle of the room was another warp panel. He was forced to stand on it while some other Desian who was also in the room was pushing some buttons. Suddenly Dean was being transported to another place by the warp panel. He arrived in a similar looking room. In front of Dean there was standing another important looking man. This man had grey hair and pointed ears. He was wearing shoulder armour, blue, white and black armour on the upper part of his body, red gloves, black pants and blue with white boots. The man had an evil look in his eyes. Dean didn't like this man at all.

"Ah, you must be Dean. Welcome to my Ranch. It is my paradise and your nightmare." Dean said nothing to this man. He just looked him in the eyes disapproving the man's existence. The man was smiling the whole time. "Now, follow me and behave or else the tormenting will start immediately." The man just walked away. Dean did what he was being told. He still saw no way out. The man was also emitting a strong aura and could probably take Dean out easily on his own, even if Dean had his sword. They walked through a wall which seemed to be an illusion again. After that they walked through a lot of huge rooms and corridors which all looked the same. Dean had lost his way again. This place was built like a prison from which nobody could escape. They then entered a small room. Dean had to lie down on bed and was being held tightly on the bed by belts which tied his arms, hands, legs, neck and waist. Dean could only look at the ceiling. Then something was being inserted inside right his hand and it hurt quite a lot. Dean didn't scream though. After a while he was being untied. The evil man had left the room. Two Desians then brought Dean to another cell. As Dean looked at his right hand he saw there was now an Exsphere there with a weird looking Key Crest. His hand was full of blood. The cell where Dean was being pushed into was small. There was nobody else there. The guards left him behind. Dean once again looked around for a way out. This cell was even more secure than the massive cell where he had been before. There was a bed though and a bucket. Dean guessed the bucket was his toilet. Having nothing to do Dean lay down on the bed and fell asleep.

"Wake up you swine!" Dean heard someone shout at him. Dean opened his eyes, first confused. He then remembered what had happened and where he was. "Follow me and don't try anything funny or else you will be sorry you filthy human." The Desians all seemed to hate humans. Dean was being pushed around even though he was walking right behind the other Desian. He was being let into another strange room and was strapped on a chair now. The chair electrocuted him. The Desians called it 'shock therapy'. Dean screamed of pain, not caring if anyone could hear him. The intense of the torment seemed to increase in strength and time with each electrocution. If Dean passed out of pain he woke up a little later. All his wounds had been healed, but the torture started again from the beginning. Dean began to hate the Desians more and more.

The days went by like this. Each day was different. On some days he was being let outside and had to push huge blocks around along with other humans. He was glad that he could see other humans, even if they were also prisoners and didn't talk at all. They all had the same blank stare in their eyes. One day Dean looked in a puddle of water and saw that the same blank stare was beginning to show in his eyes. He tried to fight this and turn all of his emotions into hate, refusing to get that blank stare in his eyes as well. On other days he was being tormented on other ways. He was being punished with the whip every day. If he fell, he was being pushed up again or they would hit him with the whip to get him on his feet. If he fell, because he had nothing left in him anymore or if he lost unconscious they would drag him in some kind of room. The room healed him completely, but the punishment wouldn't stop after that. Electrocuting, getting hit with a whip, being burnt with fire, getting almost frozen to death and many other painful tortures were his every day now. In the beginning there had been hope, but with each day that hope faded away. Dean was the one who was being punished the most. At the end of the day they wouldn't heal him. If he was badly hurt they would just drag him on his bed and leave him be. His cell was stinking and the smell around Dean himself was gross. The food had no taste at all and Dean wondered why he ate even at all. One day he stopped eating, but the Desians noticed this and found ways to make sure to force the food into the stomach of Dean. If he threw up, they would just force the half-digested food into him again. Dean started eating after a while again. For some reason they needed him alive. He lost a lot of weight, but somehow he stayed alive. With each day he felt that his emotions were duller and that his head felt heavy. He felt like he was starting to become like a soulless being somehow.

One day he was being led to the emergency transport warp panel again. He was being transported to another Human Ranch. Dean had lost all spirit and just did what people told him to do. Arriving at a different Ranch wasn't a bad thing. He was being treated like any other prisoner in this other Human Ranch. He was put in a huge cell with many other people. He wasn't used to be with so many people in the same cell in the beginning, but after a while he got used to it. Those people didn't say anything like he did. When someone new came into the ranch Dean wanted to talk to this person, but instead he just stared at the newcomer like everybody else. Several people who hadn't given up on hope could still talk. Dean gained a bit of weight now that he was being treated like everybody else. The torture sessions had ended and he had to push huge blocks around all day long like the other prisoners. Dean even stole food from the people who seemed to almost die. Nobody said anything if he did this and even the guards didn't punish him if he did this. They just laughed. He had fallen down to such a low level, but Dean didn't mind at all. Somehow there was still a survival instinct left in him.

Days came and went. Dean had no idea how long he had been in these Human Ranches. Eventually he became a zombie and even didn't steal anymore food. If people tried to steal his food he just slammed them in the face. He had even killed some people by doing this, but Dean didn't feel anything anymore. The anger was gone. There was nothing left in him. No emotion, no soul and almost no life anymore. Some people disappeared and other people took their place. The people that had been there when Dean arrived where all gone now, but Dean was still there along with other 'new' people.

At one day Dean was taken away by Desians. He made him take a shower and put new clothes on him. He was then being led to a room which looked like the one at the Iselia Ranch, the one that a big chair in it. There was another person sitting there however. A man with red dreadlock hair wrapped in a ponytail was sitting there. He had a scar at his left eye. The man was huge and muscled. He was were a sleeveless purple vest, with a white belt around his waist, dark green with dark red pants and heavy iron boots.

"So you're Dean. You should consider yourself lucky to be still alive after all this time. The renewed Angelus Project is going smoothly however. A Cruxis Crystal is forming nicely. It will be a nice gift to our Lord Yggdrasill."

"…" Dean didn't say anything. He heard the words, but he didn't listen. He existed, that was all.

"You've turned into a nice soulless human. If our predictions our right you won't die when the Cruxis Crystal is removed and after recovering for a while we can use you again for forming another Cruxis Crystal. The Reign of Half-elves is near."

"…"

"Well, your friends will arrive soon. I will crush them right in front of your eyes and then we shall remove that Cruxis Crystal from you and all the Desian Grand Cardinals shall present it to our Leader. He will be most pleased. Hahahahaha." Did that man just say friends. Somehow his brains started to work again after Dean had heard this word. His friends will soon arrive? Why would they arrive? What was going on? At that moment Lloyd, Colette, Genis, Raine and Kratos appeared from a warp panel. Magnius was sitting in his chair, but the chair had lifted up and was now floating a little bit above. Dean hadn't realised when this had happened. There was also another girl with the group.

"So this is the control room…" Lloyd said.

"So the forsaken Chosen and her entourage of vermin have finally arrived." Magnius said. The floating chair he was sitting in came down and then faced the Chosen's group.

"For…saken?" Kratos asked.

"You got it all mixed up Magnius, you're the one that's forsaken. Your time here is up." Lloyd said to Magnius. Dean looked at his friends. He had somehow forgotten how to speak. He wanted to scream their names, but his body wasn't listening. From several warp panels there appeared Desians. They surrounded the Chosen's group.

"We're surrounded!" Colette said.

"Hahaha! Just like a bunch of stupid vermin! I know your every move. And I know about those inferior beings trying to escape too." There appeared a screen around the area where Magnius was sitting. On the screen there appeared prisoners that were being led by a man. The doors in front and behind them closed. They were trapped now.

"How did Neil get in there?" asked Colette, not knowing what the screen was and what it showed.

"That's a projector. A product of magitechnology." Kratos explained.

"It's a device that displays images of people and things that are far away. We were displayed on here as well." Raine now said.

"Oh no! They're trapped!" Genis said as the doors closed.

"Hahaha! A wasted effort! Everything you've done is meaningless!" Magnius shouted.

"How so?! We can rescue everyone after we take care of you!" Lloyd said to Magnius.

"Big words from someone whose futile actions caused the disaster at Iselia!" Magnius provoked Lloyd.

"Th…that was…" Lloyd said, hurt by the memories of that event.

"I know, how about I recreate that incident using the vermin on the projector? Watch. I'll unleash their Exspheres and turn them into monsters!" Magnius threatened.

"No! Stop!" Lloyd shouted alarmed.

"Come on now. I'll be more than happy to turn them into monsters, just like that old lady you killed. Just like Marble! Hahahaha!" Magnius said with evil in his eyes. The girl that was standing at the Chosen's group gasped.

"Marble? You don't mean…" the girl said.

"Oh, but I do, my little Chocolat. Dear old granny Marble was sent to the Iselia ranch, where she was killed by Lloyd. I heard she met a pitiful end!" Magnius continued.

"Wait, it wasn't like that! Lloyd tried to save her! But the Desians turned her into a moster and-" Genis tried to convince the girl named Chocolat.

"Lloyd killed her." Magnius said again.

"No…" the girl said, lost in despair. She backed away from the group against Dean. She looked at him and back away scared even more.

"Don't… listen… to… Magnius…" Dean managed to say against the girl. He had been trying to speak and finally succeeded. He wanted to say much more, but the words didn't come out. The girl looked confused, but was then surrounded by two Desians.

"Chocolat!" Colette shouted the girl's name.

"Dammit! Let her go!" Lloyd demanded. The girl still was upset.

"Leave me alone! I refuse to be saved by Grandma's murderer! I'd rather die!" The girl foolishly said.

"You mustn't say things like that! Don't throw your life away!" Colette tried to persuade Chocolat.

"…Dorr will save me. Leave me alone!" the girl responded.

"Hahaha! Right, Dorr, huh. Well, whatever. Take her away!" Magnius ordered the two Desians to take the girl away.

"Stop!" Lloyd shouted and the Chosen's group fought the group of Desians that were there to defend Magnius. The Desians were easily defeated however.

"Dammit, how could you idiots allow these inferior being to defeat you!" Magnius shouted to the remaining Desian soldiers. "Dean! Attack the Chosen!" Magnius shouted to Dean. Dean would have done so just before he came there if someone ordered him to attack someone. Now however he wouldn't attack his friends now. Especially not Colette. He had special feelings for the girl. Those feelings rose up once again and made sure that he wouldn't do a thing. Dean just stood there. "Attack her Dean!" Dean still stood still.

"Dean? Is that you?" Colette asked surprised. She didn't recognise him at all. She came a little closer and looked him in the eyes. "It really is you Dean, isn't it? I'm so glad!" Colette said to him. She got tears in her eyes. Dean wanted to say something back as well, but words wouldn't come out his mouth. Instead he just wiped away a tear of her.

"Enough of this! Fine, I'll take care of you myself!" Magnius came down from his chair and grabbed an enormous axe which he held like it was nothing. "I'll put an end to the Chosen, right along with you fools who can't let go of your elven blood!" The group fought Magnius. Magnius unleashed several fire spells. Raine was busy healing everyone. Kratos and Lloyd were up close fighting Magnius. Genis was spamming magic attack. Colette had wings. Dean couldn't believe his eyes. She truly looked like a beautiful angel right now. Lovely pink angelic wings had appeared from her back. She was casting some kind of holy spell one moment which shot pink rings of destruction towards Magnius, hitting him hard. The other moment she threw her chakrams with great force at Magnius. Her chakrams always returned to her. As Magnius was hit by a chakram Lloyd and Kratos could strike the finishing blow. Magnius fell down on his knees.

"Ugh… How?! How could a superior half-elf like me…" Magnius said with blood coming out his mouth.

"It's because you are a fool, Magnius. Cruxis has accepted Colette as the Chosen." Kratos said.

"What?!" Magnius said surprised.

"That's right! Colette is going to regenerate the world! We're not going to lose to someone like you!" Lloyd then said to Magnius.

"So… You're… Then… I was deceived…" Magnius collapsed to the floor saying these last words. Dean looked at the axe that was lying near him. There was something that looked like a Key Crest on the axe. Dean picked the axe up. Colette looked at me confused. Raine somehow activates the console turning on another projector.

"Lloyd!" Genis said to Lloyd, making that he looked at the screen. On the projector Chocolat was taken away by two Desians.

"Dammit!" Lloyd said. One of the Desians cracked a whip at Chocolat so she would move faster. It was a sight Dean was used to seeing.

"This should allow the people imprisoned in the ranch to escape." Raine said. She knew how to control the devices. Dean wondered why.

"What about the Exspheres implanted in them? Without Key Crests, it's only a matter of time before they go out of control." Kratos said.

"Can't we just take the Exspheres off of them?" Genis asked.

"Dangerous…" Dean muttered.

"If that is Dean, he is right. It's dangerous to attempt to remove an Exsphere lacking a Key Crest. I would imagine only a dwarf could handle it." Kratos explained.

"Then we can ask Dirk to do it." Colette said.

"Yeah. Let's contact my dad." Lloyd said.

"We can work out the details later. Right now, I'm going to program this place to self-destruct. Ready?" Raine asked. Lloyd, Genis and Colette stared surprised at the professor.

"Are you serious?" Lloyd asked her.

"Raine, if you do that-" Genis began, but he was interfered.

"At the very least, we'll deal a major blow to the Desian stranglehold over this region. If we're going to strike them, it should be thorough and decisive." The professor explained.

"Raine…" Genis said again.

"Remember Genis. We're not like them. We're different." Only the professor and Genis knew what that meant. Raine pushed some buttons and after that an alarm rang.

"I've set the self-destruct timer for ten minutes. Let's hurry and evacuate." Everybody then started running, including Dean. His mouth didn't respond to his commands, but the rest of his body did. They quickly ran through the building. The group apparently knew the way, but Dean had no idea where he was going. They ran out the building at the nick of time. Outside of the building still running Dean could feel the shockwave of the explosion and was deaf for a short time. He met up with the rest of the group.

"I thought I was going to die…" Lloyd said. Dean had to focus really hard to understand him. His hearing was still a bit damaged.

"I'm glad everyone's all right." Colette said.

"Hearing… damaged…" Dean managed to say. Hopefully they would try to heal him. Everybody looked at Dean.

"Who is that man?" Neil asked.

"It's Dean. He was with us until Triet. One morning he just disappeared. We searched all over for him, but we couldn't find him." Colette said.

"Could you tell us what happened?" the professor asked Dean. She had a look in her eyes that she didn't trust Dean just yet and that she even wondered if this person was Dean.

"Can't… talk… Weird… Key… Crest…" Dean started to say. He wanted to tell everyone, but he still was afraid of his own life. The Exsphere had messed him up this bad, he didn't know when he was going back to the zombie state he had been in before. Dean then dropped the axe of Magnius on the ground. "Axe… Normal… Key… Crest… Need… It…" The others looked at him, trying to decipher what the man had just said.

"You're trying to say that you have an Key Crest on you, but that it isn't a normal one. You need another Key Crest?" the professor asked. Dean nodded. "Why do you have such a Key Crest then?"

"Experiment… You… All… Normal… Key… Crest… Mine… Not… Normal… Me… Zombie… Now…"

"He looks in a really bad state. Whether this is really Dean or not, we'd better do what he says. Whoever he is, we can't let him in this state. The Chosen One believes it is Dean. Let's us trust the judgement of the Chosen." Kratos said.

"He also said about something about this Axe, right?" Lloyd said. "It does have an Exsphere imbedded in it, but there is no Key Crest. I think he thought the Exsphere was a Key Crest." Lloyd said.

"Then we can't help him." Genis said.

"Not only him, we need to help the rest of the captives as well. They all have Exspheres imbedded in them." Kratos said.

"What do you mean?" Neil asked.

"It's dangerous to leave them as they are now. You need to send a letter in my name to a dwarf named Dirk who lives in Iselia. I'm sure he'll help you get them removed." Lloyd said to Neil.

"Dirk, in Iselia. I understand. Then, I shall go back to the city with the rest of the captives. Please stop by Palmacosta and visit us again anytime." Neil said.

"Do you need help with keeping the captives safe?" Kratos asked.

"No. Help is on the way from Palmacosta. You've done enough for us. What will you do with that man?" Neil asked. The professor then seemed to remember something and started to grab some stuff out of her bag. She then picked out something and held it in front of Lloyd.

"I found this on our journey. It's another Key Crest, isn't it?" Raine said to Lloyd. Lloyd looked at the Key Crest.

"It's a little bit damaged, but I can fix it." Lloyd said.

"Then Dean will stay with us." Colette said.

"I see. May the Goddess Martel watch over you all." Neil said and left.

"Let's set up camp somewhere nearby. We're all tired from infiltrating the ranch." Kratos said. Everyone agreed. They then walked a bit around looking for a good place to set up camp. They soon found a place. Genis started to prepare for dinner. Lloyd and Kratos went to look around for wood for the campfire. Raine and Colette stayed behind with Genis. Dean sat down on the ground. His mind went blank and he fell asleep.

It was evening when Dean woke up. It was nice to see the stars again. Dean would have cried if his emotions had returned, but he still felt empty and his head was still heavy.

"Ah, you're awake." Colette said cheerfully. "Lloyd is working on the Key Crest right now. Just wait a little while longer." Dean nodded and sat up. "So, how are you feeling?" Colette asked, wanting to make conversation.

"Head… Heavy… No… Emotions… Feel… Zombie…" Dean muttered. He still couldn't talk properly no matter what he tried. At least he could say something.

"No emotions? You don't feel anything?" Genis asked. He came to sit next to Colette. He was holding a plate filled with food. "You hungry? I left something for you." Genis gave Dean the food. There was a spoon with it. Dean tried to eat with it. After a while he managed to carefully be able to eat. He was used to eat like an animal. He had to held back to eat like that.

"Thank… You…" Dean said after the first bite. He had forgotten his manners. The food was really good. After eating tasteless or even gross food, this was heaven. "Delicious." He said after he was done eating. "More?"

"That's was all there was left. We need to cut back on provisions now that we have another person joining the group." Genis said. Dean nodded, trying to say that he understood. He heard Lloyd say something from a distance. The red boy then came closer.

"I've carved the Key Crest into a charm. I thought a simple bracelet would do. I'm going to put it on." Kratos was standing nearby, standing on guard. One of hands was lying on his sword. Lloyd put the bracelet on. Slowly his head started to feel better. His emotions came all back like a waterfall. It was just too much. Dean closed his eyes, trying to control himself. He couldn't. He started to cry. He cried it all out. He felt someone hugging him and he put his face of the shoulder of that person. He cried for several minutes. After a while the tears stopped and he felt himself calming down.

"I'm sorry." he said. He opened his eyes and saw that Colette had been trying to calm him down. The look on her face showed so much concern. Dean looked at himself. He could suddenly see sharp again. The clothes he was wearing were filthy. It was the same simple brown robe he had been wearing all this time. It seemed that just before he had been living a dream. It all didn't feel real and yet it felt so real. "I'm feeling a bit better now. Thank you Colette."

"It's okay. You're okay. It's all over now." the girl said. He looked her in the eyes and all of his feelings for her returned. He now finally realised. He loved this girl. He wanted to protect her. He wanted to be with her. He wanted to live with her. Tears once again poured from his face. He wiped them away and felt hair. He felt his face again. He had a beard and a moustache. He now wanted to look in a mirror, but at the same time he didn't want to, afraid what he would see.

"I'm alright. These are tears of joy. I'm just so happy to see you all. It's such a relief to finally have escaped that nightmare." Dean said.

"Could you tell us what happened? How did you end up in the Human Ranch of this area?" Kratos said.

"The area around Palmacosta, right? I have been so lucky to have ended up here." Dean said. "I will tell you what happened. I can't promise I won't break down again as I'll be telling the story." Everybody gathered around the fire. "Kratos, you remember that I wanted to check something out that morning, right?" The mercenary nodded. "Well I walked in the direction where I thought I saw something. It took a while and you were already in the village. Out of nowhere an arrow was shot at me. From out of the sand there came two men and a woman. They started to attack me. I managed to defeat them. I then wanted to return as another was shot at me. Both of the arrows I managed to dodge. Anyway, suddenly I was surrounded by a group of Desians. They said they had been looking for me. I noticed that I didn't stand a chance, so I surrendered. I wanted to wait for the right moment to escape, but I was knocked out. The next time I woke up I was inside a Human Ranch. I was brought to the leader of the Iselia Ranch, because that was where I was. His name is Forcystus if I remember correctly. Oh yeah, I had tried to escape by using my magic, but I couldn't cast any magic spells. It's because of this ring." Dean showed them the ring that was on his left hand. "I can't get it off and somehow it blocks me using magic. They knew I was able to cast magic spells. The leader of the Iselia Ranch said they had been looking for me for years, but when I asked for more he wouldn't tell me. I was transported to another Ranch, I believe the Asgard Ranch. They inserted this Exsphere inside my right hand." Dean showed them the Exsphere. He looked at it himself now too. Something was off. The Exsphere looked different from the first time it had been on it.

"Then what happened?" the professor asked. Dean had stopped telling the story. "How did you end up here?"

"Well… I don't know why. At the Asgard Ranch they kept me separated from the rest of the captives. I was locked away in a special cell. Every day they performed horrible experiments on me. If I collapsed or if I could take no more they healed me with some kind of machine, but after that the torture just continued. I don't know why. It was all part of some kind of sick experiment I was told. Then one day I was transported to this ranch. That was a good thing for me. I was suddenly treated like the other captives, which was a treatment that was much better than before. Over all this time my emotions faded away and I felt myself turn into some kind of zombie. I just lived, that's all. I tried to kill myself by not eating, but they forced me to eat. They wanted to keep me alive. That is what I did. I just lived. Eating, sleeping, torture and survival was my everyday life. Magnius then sent for me one day. He told me something about offering something to their leader Lord Yggdrasil. It had to do something with me. You then arrived and you all know what happened next." Dean told everything with an emotionless voice. He was trying to tell everything like it didn't happen to him, but everything had happened to him. Everybody was speechless after hearing his story. "Do you have any other clothes for me?" Dean asked. "I want to get out of these clothes as soon as possible."

"I have your clothes for you. I don't know if they will fit though." Colette said.

"You have my clothes?" Dean asked the blond girl.

"Yes. Your cooking stuff came in handy and I knew that we would meet again someday. So I couldn't bring myself to throw your stuff away." Colette said. She could either read the future or always kept believing everything be alright. "We found your sword at the entrance. It was broken. It was the only thing we threw away. I kept the rest with me."

"I can't remember my sword breaking." Dean said confused.

"For most of us it was a sign that you were no more." Genis said.

"But in my eyes it was a sign that you were still alive." Colette said. The girl handed the clothes to Dean.

"I'll go to a place where I can change." Dean said.

"I'll go with you." the professor said. Dean didn't argue. They went to an area concealed by trees. Nobody could see him change here. Raine had taken her staff with her. She used it now for a source of light. Dean turned his back to her and took off the only thing he was wearing.

"Do you still not trust or believe me?" Dean asked her. "I saw you looking at me before."

"It's not that. I wanted to come along because I wanted to." The professor than saw the back of Dean. "Dean… Those scars… Oh my…"

"How bad is it?" He asked. This is actually one reason why he didn't want anyone to see him. He trusted the professor to keep this for herself. "Please do not tell about my scars to the others. I don't want to upset them. Especially Colette." The professor was speechless.

"The amount of scars is… I don't even want to count them… Your back, your neck, your legs… Just everything is covered in some kind of scar. Does moving hurt?" Dean shook his head. "I know you don't want to, but turn around Dean. I want to see if there is anything I can do." Dean turned around. At the moment he felt safe around the professor. He had no problem turning around. He looked down at his own body now that there was more light falling on it. His whole front was full of scars too. Scars from whip lashes, scars from burns and scars from other tortures. "Your body is filled with scars. It's not a pretty face. Go and change, or else you will catch a cold." Fortunately the lower parts of his arms had no scars on them. He put on his clothes. It was strong travelling gear, made from light material. Luckily his clothes fit, it was more tight somehow. Dean felt empty without a weapon. Maybe he could use the axe of Magnius until he could get a proper sword. Colette had even kept his spare boots. He felt a lot better now that he was fully dressed. They then went back to the camp fire.

"You all look way too gloom." Dean said as he arrived and saw the look on everybody faces. "I'm back and I'm not going back." Dean forced a smile on his face. The mood lightened up a bit. "So, who's going to tell me what happened to you? Tell me about your journey so far."

"I'll tell it." Lloyd said. "Like we said before we tried to find you all day after you disappeared. We split up in two groups to look. After we all met back at the meeting point someone gave us your sword. He had been told by a shady looking guy to give it to us. We were devastated. We all thought you were dead. We stayed for another night in Triet, but many of us didn't get a lot of sleep. The next morning we went to the Fire Seal. The only thing we could do was to continue with the journey. The Fire Seal contained a lot of puzzles and a lot of fire monster. At the seal we fought a huge fire monster, but we managed to defeat it. After that Remiel appeared and Colette got her wings! That was so cool! Back outside Colette collapsed. She was really sick. Apparently this is also part of the trial to become an angel. We set up camp and let Colette rest. The next morning she was feeling fine again and we headed back to Triet to rest. From Triet we went east to the Ossa Trail. At the beginning of the trail we encountered an assassin who wanted to kill Colette. She fell through some kind of trap hole. There were many monsters on the trail and at the end of trail the assassin caught up with us. We defeated her, but she was really though. Next up was Izoold, we had some trouble finding a boat to Palmacosta, but after some trouble we were on our way to Palmacosta. The boat trip was actually pretty boring. In Palmacosta we encountered some imposters. Colette bumped into one of the imposters, breaking their Palma Potion. We went into a store to buy it when we encountered Chocolat. She and her mother were running a store. They were refusing to sell their items to some Desians. Chocolat was really brave. After buying the palma potion as giving to the guys we ran into we would to the Governor-General's office. We told them Colette was the Chosen of Mana and suddenly we were surrounded by soldiers. They believed we were imposters. Colette somehow tripped and let out her wings. After seeing the wings they believed us and confessed that they had given the Book of Regeneration to imposters claiming to be us. We figured the guys we met before must be the imposters. They had told that they were planning to sell something at Hakonesia Peak. So we went there. We couldn't go further past Hakonesia Peak though, the guards wouldn't let us through. We had to buy a Road Pass. We talked to the geezer inside a shop who sold those Road Passes. He was demanding a lot of money for the pass. We also saw the Book of Regeneration. The guy wouldn't let us even look at it. He said we could if we brought the Spiritua Statue from the House of Salvation that we could look at it."

"Wait… Why didn't you tell Colette is the Chosen One?" Dean asked Lloyd, interrupting the story.

"That's what I said too, but if we said it the guy thought we would be the imposters."

"Then why didn't you let Colette show her wings just like at the Governor-General's place? That would convince him that Colette is the Chosen One." Nobody answered to that. "Wait. Don't tell me you actually gave that guy the Spiritua Statue?"

"No, we haven't. We heard some rumours that the Desians would attack Palmacosta. Worried about that we returned to Palmacosta. They were trying to execute the woman of the shop that had denied to sell stuff to the Desians. The city militia was on training exercises apparently. Magnius appeared at the scene. Chocolat was trying hard to rescue her mom. We stopped the executions and stopped the Desians. They thanked us and Chocolate went on a pilgrimage. We then went to the House of Salvation to pick up the Spiritua Statue. We met the assassin there as well. She was praying and we tried to ask her why she was trying to kill Colette, but she just disappeared. The Spiritua Statue at the House of Salvation was a fake. A priest lost the real statue on a pilgrimage on Thoda Island. Outside we were stopped by a guard. He told us that Chocolat had been kidnapped. The militia was planning on launching an attack to the Human Ranch he told us. He asked us for help. We said we would help. Arriving at the ranch we were stopped by Neil, the man who was with us before. He told us that it was a trap. We returned to Palmacosta to hear Governor-General Dorr out. Arriving at his office he was talking to a Desian soldier who was collecting money from him. After an argument we showed us his wife that had been turned into a monster. Suddenly his daughter Kilia stabbed Dorr in the back. She was a Desian in disguise. We beat her up. Dorr gave as a Card Key into the ranch and asked us to rescue. We managed to break into the ranch and get to Magnius, but you know what happened to Chocolat. The rest you know. Sorry for skipping a lot through the story."

"That's okay. It is a long story. You guys have been through a lot."

"Yeah…"

"So we're still looking for the Seal of Water. Maybe Thoda Island will have the Seal of Water. It's not far from here, isn't it? Let's check that out." Dean said. "We can figure out what to do with the Spiritua Statue later."

"That's a good idea." Kratos said.

"Let's get some sleep." Raine said. Everyone agreed. Dean was getting ready to get to sleep when Kratos approached him.

"Let me see your ring." the man just said. Dean showed him the ring. Kratos felt a bit around the ring and then said some kind of incantation. He then pulled the ring which came off easily."

"How did you do that?" Dean asked. The man didn't answer him.

"Try your magic." He said instead. Dean unleased a simple wind spell.

"I'll be able to cast magic spells now. Thank you Kratos."

"You will be more helpful if you can use your magic. Get some sleep." Dean nodded. The man walked away. He was on first guard duty. Dean picked up the ring and put it in one of his pockets. He wanted to keep it as a reminder what had happened. It was his reminder for the revenge he wanted.

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><p><strong>OC Dean is out of that horrible ranch , but it left him scarred for life, literally. For the ones who wonder what kind of experiment was done on him, yes, the experiment is similar to the Angelus Project. For now it functions as a normal Exsphere, but might that change. Only the rest of the story will tell.<strong>


	5. Unleashing the Seal of Water

**Nightmares are a terrible thing, right? I hope I will never get the nightmares OC is going to have. I didn't want OC Dean to be left out too much out of the story, so I found a way how to let him escape the last chapter. How will the tortures OC Dean have gone through affect the rest of the story? You'll find out now!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. If I did the explosions would like explosions and not like like firework, not that it bothered me much though. **

* * *

><p><em>Pain. He was in pain. Dean opened his eyes. He was stuck in a chair and couldn´t move. Before him there were standing Forcystus, Magnius and the other Grand Cardinal of the Desians whose name he didn´t know. They were all laughing and had that evil look in their eyes.<em>

"_Magnius? That's not true. They killed you. You shouldn't be alive!" Dean shouted to the Desian leader. _

"_Me? Dying? Getting defeated by those weak inferior beings? Hahahahaha! You've got to be kidding! Those fools could never defeat me. Did you forget? All of your friends are dead!" Magnius said to Dean. A projector then came out of nowhere and showed Dean his friends. All of them were defeated and Colette was being held a prisoner as well._

"_We're soon going to extract that Cruxis Crystal from you and then the experiment will repeat again. You are the perfect research subject!" said the grey Desian leader._

"_But first, we're going to show you how much we love you. Hahahahahahaha!" Forcystus said. The chair Dean was sitting on suddenly moved into a weird room. Then suddenly he was being burned by intense flames and electrocuted at the same time. Dean was shouting out of pain and he heard the Desian leaders laughing._

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" Dean woke up with a scream. His body was still hurting. He could still feel the pain. He put his arms around himself and made himself as small as possible to relax himself. "It wasn't real. It was a dream. It wasn't real. It was a dream." Dean muttered to himself. He kept on saying those words to himself. Then someone hugged him.

"Shhh… It's alright now. You're safe now." a kind voice told him. Dean looked up to see who it was. Colette was calming him down again.

"Thanks Colette. Can you hold me like that for a while?" Dean whispered to the girl. He started crying again. He didn't want to go back to sleep.

"It's okay now. Go back to sleep."

"I don't want to. Sleep will only bring me pain."

"You're alright now Dean. You're safe with us. Go back to sleep." Colette carefully made Dean lie down again. She stroke his hair to make him relax. He fell asleep again, this time without any nightmares.

It was before sunlight that Dean woke up again. This time he couldn't get back to sleep. He got up and stretched his legs again, trying not to wander too far away from the campsite. He looked at the stars for a while, admiring their beauty. He then searched for the axe he had brought from Magnius. It was lying near where Kratos was sleeping. He carefully picked it up and walked away without making a noise. He then left the campsite, but made sure not to go too far away from it. He figured it would take a while before he would be able to get his hands on a new sword. So in order to be of use in close range battles, he decided it would be best if he would learn how to handle this weapon. The axe was quite long and swinging it around felt way different than handling a sword. He kept swinging the weapon around, trying to get used to it. He then sensed someone nearby. He turned around to see who it was.

"You're up early." Colette said.

"And you aren't? I'm used to get up early. As far as I can remember you love sleeping." Dean responded. "Thank you again."

"You had a nightmare, right? Frank and Phaidra always did that for me if I had a bad dream."

"They really love you, don't they? It wasn't just a bad dream. I was being tortured again and the pain I felt in the dream I could even feel after waking up. You were taken prisoner. The rest of the group was dead. It wasn't just a nightmare. It was all of my fears bundled inside a dream." Dean explained. Shivers ran over his back as he told Colette about his nightmare.

"I'm sorry."

"What are you apologising for? It's nothing you can do about."

"But I made you remember again."

"You silly. What I went through will probably follow me for the rest of my life. You've really helped me. I calm down when you hug me. It's feels really great." Dean was blushing when he was saying this.

"I'm just glad to be of help. I don't like it when you suffer like that."

"Nobody likes to see their friends suffer. Did I wake anyone up with my screaming?" Dean asked.

"I think everybody woke up when you screamed that loud. The rest just didn't know what to do. They all are very concerned. Especially the professor looked concerned. She was reaching out her hand, but there was doubt in her eyes. She didn't know what to do. I knew that hugging you helped the last time, so I tried again." The girl yawned. "I couldn't sleep anymore when you fell back asleep. I'm worried about you Dean."

"I'm glad that you show concern towards me, but you should also take care of yourself. Come on. Let me take you back to sleep this time. The sun will rise in about two hours."

"Can you stay with me until I fall asleep?" the girl asked.

"I will. Come on, let's go back to camp." When they got back they saw Lloyd sleeping against a rock while sitting. He was on guard duty, but he must have fallen asleep. Colette giggled a bit as she saw her friend sitting like that. Dean put Colette under a blanket and stayed with her until she fell asleep. The girl had insisted that he had to hold her hand until she fell asleep, saying that it would put her at ease. Dean did as the girl asked him. After some time he heard her snoring a little bit. He carefully let go of her hand. She didn't wake up. Lloyd woke up at that moment.

"Ah damn… I fell asleep." the boy said. Dean gestured that the boy should be silent and made him come with him.

"You're up early." Lloyd said to Dean when they were far enough away to talk out loud.

"I used to get up about two hours before sunrise, but it seems I get up even more early these days. If you want to go and sleep for a little while you can. I'll take over guard duty." Dean responded.

"Nah. Kratos will probably wake up soon. We're holding training sessions every morning. I can't believe I asked him to train me."

"I don't think he will wake up soon. He had the first guard duty. He needs his sleep. If you want you can train with me."

"With you? Are you going to be okay? You just got out of that human ranch, you should take it easy." Lloyd gave Dean a concerned look.

"It's okay. Training helps me clear my mind and it also helps me not remembering. I'm sorry about waking you in the middle of the night with my screaming." Lloyd kept looking concerned. "Anyway now that I don't have a sword I decided that I should use the axe I took from Magnius. If we spar I'll get used to handling this weapon more easily."

"Alright, but if I notice that you're overexerting yourself we'll stop." They got a little bit farther away from the campsite so that the group wouldn't wake up from their training. The moon light was quite strong this night, so they could easily see each other and didn't need another light source. They started with the one attacking and the other one blocking the attacks. They started slow, but soon were sparring like it was a real fight. Dean wasn't used to fighting someone who used two swords and now that he used a weapon he wasn't familiar with put him in a disadvantage. Kratos didn't join them like Dean predicted. When it was half an hour before sunrise they stopped their training. Dean asked Lloyd to go back to the campsite so that he could hunt, but Lloyd refused to do so and dragged Dean back to campsite.

"We're not letting you alone again. Those Desians are still after you. Even if we just blew up their ranch there is no telling what they'll do. If you got surrounded again, you'll be captured again." Lloyd explained as he literally dragged Dean back to the camp site.

"I think I'd rather die than letting them capture me again." Dean responded. "Fine, I'll go back to the camp. Stop pulling me. I'm not going to run away." Lloyd let Dean go.

"I still don't think you should give up on your life that easily."

"Hahahaha!" Dean started to laugh, but it sounded more like a maniac than laughing after hearing something funny. "I'm never going through that hell again. I'll fight those Desians to the bitter end and die along with them then that I'll ever let myself be captured again." Dean said with his voice full of hate and anger. Lloyd was frightened at him. Dean didn't care if he was scared of him. The Desians had done terrible things to him and not only to him. They were going to pay the price of their actions. "I'll make them all pay." Dean promised himself. The rest of the group was getting awake when they were back.

"You should have waked me for training." Kratos said to Lloyd.

"I told him not to wake you. I trained with him this morning. He helped me with getting used to this axe." Dean responded before Lloyd could. "Besides you had been on guard duty. You needed the sleep."

"Well, just wake me up the next morning. I'll train both of you at the same time." Kratos said to the both of them.

"Yes Sir!" Dean said and he saluted. Kratos raised his eyebrows at that response. "Don't be so stiff all the time Kratos. You need to relax a bit more."

"Hmph." That was the only answer Dean got. The man was always acting like a bodyguard. It almost seemed like the man didn't know how to have fun anymore.

That day they headed towards Thoda Island. It was a day's walk. Dean tried to keep himself busy as much as possible that day.

"Hey Dean, can't you shave that beard and moustache off? It doesn't suit you and it makes you look like a bear." Genis said to Dean.

"Well sorry for looking like a bear. Anyway, does anyone have a mirror for me? I can't shave without one." Kratos was the one that handed Dean a hand-held mirror. Dean stared at the man.

"I need to shave too you know." the man said in response to the stare.

"I've never seen you shave. We're always together. When do you shave?" the man didn't answer the question. "Do you even need to shave? Your skin looks way too smooth for that."

"I use my magic to shave okay?!" Kratos responded while grumbling.

"I didn't know you would get angry. Well, thanks for the mirror. You'll get it back soon." Dean looked in the mirror at his face. He did have a beard and a moustache. He stood still for a moment and focussed his magic. Then in one try the hair from his beard and his moustache fell of his face. He had used the slicing power of wind magic to shave himself. He had made a little cut on one of his cheeks though. It would heal by itself. Dean ran a little bit to meet up with the rest of the group.

"Better this way Genis?" Dean asked the elf boy. Dean handed Kratos back his mirror.

"Yeah. This way I can recognise you again. I was planning on calling you bear man if you didn't shave it off."

"Bear man. That actually has a nice ring to it. Beware of the bear man, he has the power of beasts." Dean said imitating that he had claws and was tearing something up.

"Oh, I can call you bear man if you like Dean." Colette answered.

"Nah, that doesn't work without a beard. Maybe I should grow it back."

"NO!" Lloyd, Genis and Raine responded.

"Did it look that bad on me professor?" Dean asked the elf woman.

"Maybe when you're a little bit older yes, but you looked like a boy with a beard. Believe me, that doesn't look that good." the professor responded.

"Oh yeah professor, I was wondering. Do you have a book on more advanced magic spells for me? I know you taught me and Genis some spells with the help of some book."

"A magic spell book? I think I brought it with me, but I think Genis has it now."

"Yeah, that's right. I had some ideas for some magic spells, but I wanted to do some research before I actually used the spells." Genis said. "I can borrow you it as long if you return it to Raine. I don't need it for a while anymore." The boy searched in his backpack for the book and then handed the book to Dean. Dean started to read the book while walking. He looked up from time to time to see if he wasn't going to bump into anything. There were quite a few lightning and wind spells in it that he hadn't mastered yet. He would need to practics the spells for a bit before he could actually use them in battle. He really like the spell called Thunder Blade. It was a spell where a huge blade of lightning would fall from the sky and would create a shockwave on impact and create a field of lightning. The blade of lightning would then explode and the electricity erupting from this blast would shock the people standing in the field. It was quite a complex spell and you had to make sure not to hit your allies with this spell. Dean thought he would be able to master this spell. He would start with practicing this spell. The rest of the spells were all more advanced, so if he couldn't learn this spell than the rest wouldn't be possible as well. The rest of the day travelling passed by. At evening they arrived at a House of Salvation where they could also hire boats to travel to Thoda Island. The Island was also a big sightseeing spot. They spent the night there. Dean decided to practise his magic that evening. Genis joined him. Raine was supervising them. Colette and Lloyd were watching them practise. Kratos was nowhere to be seen. Raine gave both of them some tips. Dean tried out his new spell.

"Thunder Blade!" Dean shouted as the blade of lightning fell from the sky, but it disappeared when it hit the ground.

"Nobody can do a new spell the first time. Just keep on practicing." Rained said to Dean. Dean was a bit disappointed though.

"You're right professor. I'm impressed with Genis. He can use spells of most the elements. I can only use spells of wind and lightning. That's why I'm trying to learn all the wind and lightning spells there are."

"Still that spell is quite complex." Genis said. "Lightning is an element that is hard to control. I haven't reached spells of that level yet, so it's no wonder that you couldn't do it."

"Magic takes years to master. You've already learned very complex spells. Even though you have an Exsphere now it will still be really hard to learn new spells and improve the spells you already are using. You two both can use magic. Try to give each other tips and encourage each other." The professor said to the elf boy and Dean.

"I will. Come on Genis, let's practise some more!"

"Yeah!" Dean kept trying to pull of the spell Thunder Blade, but still failed at it with each time. Every time the spell got a little bit better. Genis was trying to pull of the spell as well, but they both didn't succeed. After some time the professor stopped them and decided for them to call it a day.

"Whose turn is it to cook anyway?" Genis asked as they headed back. Dean stood still for a moment.

"I can't believe I forgot about dinner. I'm not used to prepare my own food anymore it seems." Dean said. His stomach began grumbling. As they went inside they smelled something delicious coming for the kitchen.

"You're all right on time. I was about to call you to tell you dinner is ready." Kratos calmly said.

"Oh yean, it's Kratos' turn to cook tonight." Lloyd said. The food was simple, but tasted really good. Dean could taste several herbs and he had never thought about using these herbs in a dish like this.

"Wow, this is delicious Kratos. Where did you learn how to cook like this?" Dean asked.

"I've picked up many things from my travels. I have guarded a lot of people during the travelling. Some of them were good cooks and they gave me some tips." the mercenary explained.

"I just think you're not used to eat something that has taste." Lloyd joked.

"No, I would never have come up to use the herbs Kratos used in this dish. You need to know exactly how much you have to add some of the herbs in this dish, since that some of the herbs hold a lot of flavour. Every herb strengthens the flavour of the dish making sure you taste dish in your whole mouth and not in just one area."

"You flatter me."

"Dean is right. Only an idiot like you wouldn't understand." Genis said to Lloyd.

"Hey!"

"Stop bickering kids." the professor responded. Dean really enjoyed the dish. He feared for the next meal though. As he remembered correctly it was the professor who would cook next. She always used the wrong herbs and sometimes added ingredients that totally didn't suit the dish. Dean decided he would keep an eye on the cooking of the professor and help a hand or two. This night they had to share rooms. Dean and Kratos would sleep together. It was nice that Dean could sleep in a proper bed, but he didn't want to show the state of his body to anyone. The professor had seen it, but he didn't want to show her another time. After dinner Dean worked a bit on the homework the professor had given him. He could hear that Genis and Lloyd in the other room were doing other things than studying. Lloyd probably didn't want to study and was bothering Genis as the boy was trying to study. Or Genis didn't want to study for a change or was already done. That was an option as well. Dean was finished faster than he had expected. The professor had apparently made sure that most of the knowledge he had gained at school still remained. Dean knocked at the door of the room of Colette and Raine. The professor opened.

"Yes Dean. What is it?" she asked.

"I've finished the homework you gave me. I wanted to give it to you so that you could check it."

"I will. What are you doing the rest of the evening?"

"I don't know. I was planning to go to bed early. I'm actually quite tired."

"Would you like to play a card game with us? There was a set of cards in this room."

"Sure. What game are you playing?"  
>"Oh, it is quite easy. I'm sure you'll get it in no time." It was a simple card game. The game was based more on luck than skill, but there were a few tricks you could use to make winning easier, but those tricks didn't always work. The point of the game was to get rid of the cards in your hands as fast of possible. The one who succeeded doing this first was the winner. There were cards which tricked the other players and other cards made sure you had to put more cards in your hand. The professor wasn't good at the game. Dean thought that a person with her intelligence would probably win a lot, even if it was a luck based game. After yawning for the third time the professor sent Dean to bed. Dean was having a good time, but the prospect of sleeping wasn't that bad. He just wished that he wouldn't dream again. If he dreamed, it would probably be a nightmare or change into a nightmare. Dean had a set of clothing that he used for sleeping if he was lucky enough to sleep inside a bed. Most of the time they slept on the ground and in their travelling clothes. Kratos wasn't in the room when Dean got there. Dean was glad that he wasn't there. He changed clothes and fell asleep almost as soon as he lay down.<p>

_Pain again. He was lying naked in an ice cold room. He couldn't move. The pain started to fade away along with everything else he was feeling. Suddenly there was fire. Fire all around him, but he was still frozen and couldn't move. The fire slowly started getter closer until it finally reached him. The inferno consumed him. He screamed and yelled as he almost fainted of the pain, but the pain only got more intense. Suddenly the pain was gone._

Dean woke up. He felt like his body was on fire. He first checked if he could move. Fortunately there was nothing wrong with his body. He got up. The pain was slowly fading away. Dean decided that it was time for a walk. As he went downstairs he heard some people talking. The voices belonged to some travellers. They had apparently just arrived. Dean greeted them. He went to the main hall of the House of Salvation. There was a priest who was praying. Dean decided to join him.

"Goddess Martel or any other holy being. Please let my revenge on the Desians come soon so I can rid myself of these nightmares. Guide me through the Journey of Salvation and let me find peace when everything is over." Dean thought. He realised that his prayer was really selfish, but he didn't mind. Every time he thought of the word Desian an uncontrollable anger took over him and he wanted to destroy everything in sight. Of course he supressed these feelings. Dean then prayed that the Goddess Martel to watch over his parents and all of his friends and to guide Colette on her journey. He also prayed that Colette wouldn't have to suffer. He then returned back to his room, but he couldn't get back to sleep. He began to wonder about the most strange things. He actually tested himself on math in his head, but that didn't work as well. After that he remembered that Paul once said that if he couldn't get to sleep that he had to clear his head of all thoughts. He should concentrate on his breathing and try to relax his body. Dean concentrated on his breathing. At first his thoughts would pop up and disturb his concentration, but he pushed the thoughts away every time it happened and kept focussing on his breathing. He could feel himself get into a state of meditation and eventually he fell asleep.

"Dean, get up. It's time for training." Kratos said. Dean opened his eyes and let out a big yawn.

"Go wake Lloyd up. I'll be there in a second." Dean said with sleepy voice. His eyes wouldn't open far and he was still feeling sleepy. Kratos left the room and Dean changed clothes. He put the stuff back in his backpack, grabbed his axe and headed outside. Kratos wasn't there yet. After a few minutes he saw the mercenary dragging a sleepy Lloyd outside. Dean grinned at the sight.

"Today we're going to do something different." Kratos began to say his training plan. "You're going to fight barehanded against each other in order to improve your balancing. In close range battles it is important that you don't lose balance. One trip can cost your life. Learning how to fight barehanded will also give you a chance if your opponent happens to disarm you. He might turn overconfident and you will be able to turn the battle in your favour, even in such a situation."

"Well, I already know to fight barehanded a bit. Paul taught me how. He thought the same way as you do now." Dean said.

"I don't know. I've always relied on my sword skills, but fighting barehanded shouldn't be that hard." Lloyd said.

"You shouldn't underestimate how hard a kick to the head can feel Lloyd." Dean responded.

"Then let's have you two fight each other barehanded. The winner will fight me next." Dean and Lloyd put away their weapons and faced each other. Dean took on a fighting pose and Lloyd tried to imitate him. Dean noticed that Lloyd wasn't going to attack first, so he took the initiative. He threw out a few punches which Lloyd dodged. Lloyd then tried to kick Dean, but Dean grabbed the leg of the boy in red and swung the leg in the direction of the kick was headed. Not knowing his strength Dean threw the boy far away on the ground.

"Ouch." Lloyd said as he fell hard on the ground. The boy in red was now angry and ran towards Dean. Dean reacted to the attack by landing a jump kick on Lloyd's face. Lloyd fell on the ground again, but this time stayed down. Dean checked out how his friend was doing as he wasn't getting up. Kratos checked up on the boy as well. The face of the boy was full of blood and it looked like his nose was broken.

"I think it would be better if you taught him some basic punches and kicks before you let him fight like that again." Dean said to Kratos.

"I suppose that would be best. I'll heal him. Go get a bucket of water so we can wake him up. I'll instruct him on some basic moves and then we'll hold a practice battle ourselves." The purple trainer said. Dean did as he was told. He asked for a bucket inside, filled it with water from the haven and threw it on Lloyd's face, which was still bloody but didn't look damaged anymore. Lloyd woke up with a shock.

"Woah. What happened?" The bod asked startled.

"You passed out after I hit you as you attacked me recklessly. I didn't mean to hit you that hard." Dean said.

"I passed out?" Lloyd said surprised. Kratos let out a sigh.

"I thought fighting barehanded would be no problem for you, but it seems I was wrong. I'm going to teach you some basic punches and kicks. I want you to practise these before we're going to have a practice battle again. Do you know why you lost like this?"

"I let my anger took over and got reckless?" Lloyd said like asking a question.

"Correct. Never let anger take over you. Stay calm during battles and don't make any reckless moves." Kratos then showed Lloyd different kinds of punches and kicks and let Lloyd practise these by doing each of them a hundred times. Dean and Kratos then faced each other. Kratos was slightly bigger than Dean, but so was Lloyd. Kratos attacked first. Dean defended against the attacks and retaliated. Kratos still had the upper hand in the fight. The defence of the two of them was perfect however, but Kratos was much better at timing his attacks and getting the upper hand.

"Stop!" Kratos said. "Very good. Even without a weapon you will be able to protect yourself if need arrives."

"You can handle yourself also quite well without a sword. Don't tell me you can handle an axe as well?" Dean said back.

"No, I know how to handle a sword and shield and I know how to fight barehanded, but that is all. I'm not some kind of a god." They checked on Lloyd who was panting while doing his exercises.

"Man, this is though. I saw you two fighting. That was some impressive fighting." Lloyd said.

"With hard work you will reach that level as well." Dean said. "Keep up the good work."

"I thought I would be stronger than you by now Dean, but it seems I still have a way to go."

"I guess that now I have an Exsphere as well that my fighting skills have progressed a bit as well."

"Enough chatting you two. Training isn't over yet." Kratos intervened.

"It isn't?" Lloyd said. "Man, this training is going to be though."

"Stop complaining. You wanted to become stronger, so now you have to work hard in order to achieve that goal." Kratos was being really strict on Lloyd as well. It looked like a father that was correcting his son. Dean smiled as that thought arose. "I want to see how well matched you two are. Dean, you can use my sword. I saw that the way you handle an axe doesn't quite fit you, but I can understand that fighting with a weapon is better than without one." Kratos grabbed his sword and handed it to Dean.

"Are you sure? Maybe I should getting used to handling an axe. It will be a while until we reach a town or village where we can buy me a sword. Besides, weapons are expensive. Do we have enough Gald to buy one?"

"That's why I want to see how your sword skills are. If they are much better than your skills with an axe, than the axe will be a temporary weapon. You will practise in the morning with my sword so your skills won't rust."

"If you say so."

"Are you ready?" Lloyd asked. He was already in his combat stance with his dual swords.

"Just a minute. Let me first get a feeling on this sword." Dean swung the sword around for a bit, changing with swinging it around with his right hand and both hands as he normally did while fighting with a sword. The feeling of the sword was different than he was used to. The sword was a bit heavier than he was used to and therefore relied more on its weight than on the skill of the wielder. This was a fine sword. "I'm ready. Let's go." Dean entered his combat stance. They attacked each other at the same time. Fighting with a sword felt great. Even after such a long time and even with a different sword it felt like the sword was an extension of his hand. Still the two of them were evenly matched. They blocked each other's attacks with ease. At one point Lloyd got reckless and that gave Dean the chance to disarm the boy in red.

"Damn…" the swordsman said.

"Stay calm Lloyd. Pick up your swords and come at me again." Dean said. The sword clashing continued. Now the two of them used their artes against each other as well. Dean still didn't know many artes and Lloyd was much better in using a variety of artes against Dean. Dean was able to guard or dodge the artes though.

"Hurricane Trust!" Dean shouted as he unleashed one artes of his. Lloyd blocked the sword, but was pushed back. This time Dean rushed forward and kept attacking Lloyd. Lloyd retaliated however and drove Dean back and unleashed his Beast Arte. Lloyd smashed his sword against Dean as the face of a lion in the form of mana rushed towards him. Dean was pushed back by this attack. Lloyd now kept on attacking as Dean was forced to go on the defence. Dean counterattacked at one point and now forced Lloyd to go on the defence. This continued to go on as none of them seemed to get to the upper hand.

"Stop!" Kratos shouted at one point. Dean and Lloyd stopped fighting. They both were breathing heavily, tired from the fighting. "You two are matched evenly. It seems that your sword skills haven't decayed over this time Dean. Lloyd, you've improved in all this time. Dean was stronger than you when the journey started. Keep up the good work."

"Thanks." Lloyd said. The compliment had taken him by surprise.

"Here is your sword back Kratos. Thank you for letting me borrow it."

"I just needed to check your fighting capabilities. We should get you a sword in the next town we will reach. Learning to fight with an axe before we reach one isn't a bad idea. You can practise with my sword until then. Try to infuse your sword with the element of lightning. Maybe that will help you with learning a new arte."

"Thanks Kratos."

"Now let's go hunting for breakfast."

"Ah, I would love to hunt again." Lloyd said that he didn't want to go, but Kratos insisted that he would come along. As they went hunting Dean took the lead, having the most experience in hunting. It wasn't hard to hunt around this area. The animals and monsters weren't used to someone hunting them. The group collected some fresh meat in no time. They then searched the surrounding area for herbs, eatable plants and herbs. Dean felt like Kratos wanted to make him feel more at ease. The man was way more strict on Lloyd, but Dean didn't like people who were too strict. The day had started quite well for Dean. When they arrived back at the House of Salvation Dean made breakfast with the things they had gathered from the hunt.

"Smells nice." Genis said as he entered the room.

"Yeah, it smells really great." Colette said then. Dean had been busy with preparing breakfast, he hadn't heard them coming in the kitchen.

"You think so? Well, Kratos, Lloyd and I went hunting this morning so I thought I made us all a nice breakfast before we go to Thoda Island. There is a high chance that the Water Seal is there. We're going to need the energy."

"Well, I need the energy after all that training. Is it almost done?" Lloyd said with his hands on his stomach. He had been complaining the whole time that he was hungry. At times like these Dean agreed with Kratos, Lloyd was acting like a child.

"Yeah. Can you guys prepare the table for breakfast. I'll finish things up after this. Lloyd, because you complained so much you will clean up the kitchen after breakfast."

"Ah man… Since when do you decide things like that?" Lloyd pouted.

"I prepared breakfast, so I decide who gets to clean up. Don't worry, I'll help you. If I see you slacking off I will get the professor to supervise however."

"I'll clean the kitchen after breakfast. No need to resort to things like that." The professor had heard Lloyd say that and gave him a slap in the face. She really resorted to violence quite fast as a learning tool. Dean thought there would be better methods than that, but he didn't dare to tell the professor. Everyone enjoyed the breakfast. Dean noticed that Colette wasn't eating much and although she had a smile on her face, it didn't look like she was enjoying the meal like everybody else. Dean wondered why. After breakfast the professor and Lloyd cleaned the kitchen. Dean wanted to help, but the professor insisted that he should take it easy.

"You've been here for only a few days, but it feels right when you are around Dean." Genis said.

"Thanks Genis. This really feels good to me as well."

"Ah sorry, didn't want to make you remember."

"It's okay." Emotions whelmed up inside Dean. He took a deep breath and tried to relax. "It's going to take some time before I will be the old one. Although, I think I won't ever be the same as before. No need to look so gloomy. I'm back with you guys. That is what matters." Dean tried to be optimistic, but he suddenly felt bad again. All he could do now was to make sure that his thoughts weren't at that horrible time he had been through. He noticed that was emotionally unstable. One moment he felt happy and at peace and the other moment he felt sad or was angry. He wanted to somehow let these feelings out without hurting anyone or making the others worry, but he didn't know how. He was suppressing the feelings and he knew it. He was just going to do his best to help on this journey. Eventually it would turn out alright. That is what he truly hoped.

When everyone had grabbed their stuff they went to the reception for the way to Thoda Island.

"Hi!" the receptionist said. "Welcome to the Thoda Island Sightseeing Boat Dock! This is the most convenient, well… the only way to view the Thoda Geyser. It will be 200 Gald for a round trip. Would you like to use the boat?"

"Yes, we would like to." the professor said as she handed over the money.

"Thank you very much." The group then went outside and approached the dock. All they found there were a bunch of washtubs.

"It's a… washtub?" Lloyd said.

"Yep, it's a washtub." Genis responded.

"Washtubs, hmm…" Kratos said, seeming deep in thought.

"Wow! This looks like it'll be fun!" Colette cheered.

"I…I'm going to wait here. Go on ahead without me." the professor said. Dean also didn't feel like going to the island with these things, but not going was a bit drastic.

"Is something wrong professor?" Dean asked.

"No… I'm just not getting in that thing." she responded.

"It looks fun! Come on, let's get in!" Colette cheerfully said and grabbed the professor's left hand.

"Yeah Raine!" Genis said now set in the right mood by Colette.

"Ahh!" Raine screamed. Everybody looked surprised at the professor.

"Ah? Professor Sage… are you… afraid of water or something?" Lloyd asked the woman.

"I…I was just starting to say, "Ah, this should be fun!" she answered back and she entered one of the washtubs.

"Um… sure." Lloyd let it go.

"…Heh." Kratos let out. The others then entered the washtubs. They rode the washtubs in pairs. Dean decided to go along with the professor. Lloyd and Colette went together and Genis and Kratos were the ones left out.

"Professor? Let me do the steering and if you feel sick, please throw up in the water. Don't worry, we'll go as last and nobody will see." Dean said as he tried to cheer the woman up.

"Thank you Dean. I'll just sit here."

"Just don't move too much. It seems like these things aren't that though." The professor looked at Dean with a concerned look on her face. Still, she tried to relax. Dean found that the steering and paddling of the washtub went quite easily. He saw that the others weren't all doing as fine as he was. It didn't take long before they arrived at the island. Although they went last Dean and the professor got there first.

"We've… finally… arrived…" Raine said. Dean had gotten out already and was now holding out a hand to help the woman.

"Here professor."

"Ah, right. Thank you." Dean helped her got on the dock. The elf woman then stayed sitting on the dock looking like she wanted to kiss the solid ground underneath her. Dean helped the rest on the dock when they arrived.

"That was fun, wasn't it Lloyd?!" Colette cheered excited.

"Sea water came in and I thought it was going to sink!" Genis said. The clothes of him and Kratos were a bit wet.

"That was a rare experience." Kratos said. The group then went to explore the island. They arrived at the area where the geyser was. There were quite a lot of people here. There had been several other washtubs at the docks. There was even a travelling guide explaining the history of the island.

"Wow!" Lloyd said as he saw the geyser. It was quite a sight to see. Dean could imagine why people would come to see it. This was worth the trip in the washtub.

"Lloyd, a geyser is a type of hot spring that periodically erupts with boiling water and water vapour." the elf boy explained.

"Yeah. I knew that."

"Hmm…" Colette let out.

"What is it, Chosen?" the professor asked.

"That sign… over on that lookout platform…" the girl continued.

"What about the sign?" Dean asked.

"It looks kind of familiar.. Maybe it's just my imagination."

"Let's check it out later. I think Lloyd wants to retrieve the Spiritua Statue first." The group headed towards an opening in the fence near the geyser.

"All I have to do is stop it with my magic, right?" Genis asked.

"Yeah. While it's stopped, I'll go down there along the rocky parts and get the statue." Lloyd said.

"The ice I can make will… well, it's just an estimation, but I don't think it'll last more than about 30 seconds."

"Gotcha."

"Lloyd, be careful." Colette said.

"Even my healing arts have their limits." Raine said.

"Make sure you don't slip." Dean said.

"You have a bad habit of getting cocky. Be careful." Kratos then said.

"After I cast the magic, move in the direction that I indicate. If you mess up you will get hurt by steam that will escape through the ice. Good luck, Lloyd!" Genis explained.

"So all I have to do is not mess up, right? Leave it to me!" Lloyd responded.

"Icicle!" Genis shouted as he unleashed his magic. Lloyd jumped on the first rock. "Left!" Lloyd jumped to the left. "Up!" Lloyd jump towards the upper rock. "Left again!" And so Genis safely guided Lloyd towards the statue. Lloyd quickly grabbed the statue and with the help of Genis he once again made it back. The rest of the people who were there thought it was a show and were cheering for the boy.

"You're amazing, Lloyd! I knew we could count on you!" Colette cheered for her friend. Lloyd blushed when he heard his friend say such a thing.

"Right, now let's go check out that sign over there. Colette said she saw something familiar." Dean said. The headed towards the sign. Behind the sign there was some kind of panel.

"Hey, isn't this a watchamcallit stone?" Lloyd asked.

"An oracle stone." Kratos replied.

"That's why it looked familiar!" Colette said happily.

"So this is the Sealof Water! Just like we thought. Good thinking Dean." Raine said.

"Aw… that sucks. I didn't even need to get that Spiritua Statue!" Lloyd said disappointed.

"Don't say that. We'll need the Book of Regeneration for the location of the other Seals." Dean responded.

"Yeah, cheer up Lloyd! Just think of it as giving you the opportunity to have fun riding in the washtubs." Colette tried to cheer the boy up.

"Yeah, I guess, but…"

"Lloyd! Let's hurry on inside! Come on Colette!" Genis said now excited as someone of his age would be.

"Okay then, I'll try putting my hand on the stone. Here we go!" Colette said and she placed her hand on the oracle stone. Somewhere above the place where the Spiritua Statue had been a rock came off the stone wall, revealing a secret entrance. Some kind of bridge was formed. It was floating above the ground, was blue and you could see through it. It could easily hold the whole group though. There was some interesting magic at work here. Dean saw a girl in strange clothes coming closer, but he thought nothing of it as they entered the cave. Dean was at the back of the group together with Kratos and Lloyd. The mercenary stopped for a while then.

"What's wrong?" Lloyd asked.

"It looks like that girl didn't make it inside." the man answered.

"Do you mean that girl in the strange clothes? She was getting closer." Dean said.

"Yes, she's the assassin we told you about. The one after the Chosen." Kratos said.

"She followed us?!" Lloyd asked surprised.

"You didn't notice?" Kratos asked.

"I… I was busy thinking and stuff." Lloyd came up with an excuse.

"Never let your guard down, ever. Assuming you want to survive."

"Oh, yes, of course, you're SOOO perfect. You'd never screw up." Lloyd said with an irritated voice, tired of being told of the whole time.

"Even I make mistakes. I made a terrible…" the purple man softly said.

"What do you mean Kratos?" Dean asked.

"Nothing. It is nothing of importance. I shouldn't have said that. Forgive me."

"Forgive you? What? You don't make any sense sometimes." Lloyd said back, but the mercenary was already trying to catch up with the rest of the group.

"Let's go Lloyd. They'll need us to defeat the monsters at this Seal." Dean and Lloyd quickly caught up with the rest of the group. The battles up ahead were no problem for the group. There were a lot of monsters with the element water and since that the lightning element is strong against water, the group knew what kind of elemental attack they should use. There were also some monsters which had no element. Kratos and Lloyd took care of those monsters. The Seal itself was quite a large place. There was also some treasure. Most of the time it were items which could heal the party, could cure poison or was helpful in some other way. There were also some accessories like a necklace. These rare items would protect against poison, paralysis or would give some protection against an element. There were a lot of monsters. They weren't tough, but their numbers made quite a challenge. There were some pillars that needed to be set afire to open doors. Then at the central chamber there was some kind of device that changed the element of the Sorcerer's Ring into water. They used it to fill up the numerous scales in the dungeon of the Seal. This was the tricky part. Some scales would block certain places and others would grant access to certain areas. With one of the scales you would block a door and unlock the final scale, but that door needed to stay open. The Chosen's group noticed there was a huge block they could move under the door, so that the door could stay open and the final scale would be opened and there would be enough place to enter the door. After walking up and down to certain areas they finally managed to open up a warp panel that would lead them to the Seal. They ate and rested a bit before finally going to the place of the Seal itself. The dungeon itself was a beautiful place. There were several waterfalls and ponds in the dungeon itself which were quite beautiful. The water itself was nice, cool and quite refreshing. They whole place was supported by huge pillars and there stairs placed everywhere. It was a nice combination of nature and man-made structures. Dean felt quite at ease in this place. The monsters that were lurking around were no more, so the group could relax and enjoy the scenery. Then it was time to unleash the time. This area was surrounded by beautiful waterfalls, but it wasn't lighted well and because of the water in the air it was a bit harder to breathe.

"This place is all dark and humid. Let's hurry up and get out of here." Lloyd said.

"I don't know Lloyd, this Seal is actually quite beautiful. I'm enjoying myself quite a lot here. This place makes me feel at peace somehow." Dean replied.

"Dean is right. This place is nice." Colette agreed.

"Except for the monsters that lurk around…" Genis said sceptically.

"Let's release the Seal." Kratos intervened. He clearly wanted this to be over with.

"Be cautious everyone, the Seal will be guarded just like the Seal of Fire." Raine warned.

"Guarded by what?" Dean asked. Then there was suddenly something happening at the altar of the Seal.

"I feel… mana welling up… It's the same as the Seal of Fire." There appeared three monsters at the altar all of a sudden. Everybody drew their weapons. Dean had been fighting in the back all this time, but these monsters looked though and Lloyd and Kratos would need help. Two monsters looked the same and were smaller and there was one big really though looking one. The monsters looked a bit like mermaids, but they had sharp claws and teeth. They looked more fishlike and only the upper part of the body had the shape of a human, but they had hard scales all over their body.

"Kratos, please hold off the big one. Lloyd, take care of the left one and I will take on the right. Colette, stay a bit from a range. Help Lloyd defeat the monster and then come help me. Genis, unleash your magic. Professor, support and heal magic." Dean shouted out orders as the others were already rushing into battle without a plan. They needed a plan when handling weak monsters, but with opponents like these they would need a bit of strategy. Dean rushed towards the right smaller mermaid. The thing didn't look pretty at all. The scales were though and Dean couldn't cut through the skin even with his axe. Dean needed to stay on the defensive. He needed to dodge the magic of the biggest monster sometimes. Kratos was on the defensive as well. Lloyd and Colette quickly finished of the monster with the help of Genis. Raine was supporting Kratos, making sure that he didn't get hurt too much and healing him. Now that Colette helped him Dean could go on the offensive. "Genis, help Kratos and Lloyd with the big monster. Colette and I can handle this one." Dean shouted to the mage. Even with the help of Lloyd the big monster was still forcing them on the defensive. Dean was wishing he had a sword in his hand and not an axe. During the fighting handling the weapon was progressing, but it was just not the same. Colette unleashed her angel magic and finished of the monster.

"Use the spell once again Colette. I'm going to attack the monster from behind." Dean said to Colette. The girl began preparing for the spell again.

"Dean, a strong spell will be done in a few minutes. Warn the others for me." Genis said to him. Dean waved his hand letting the mage know that he got the message. He ran towards the monsters. Things weren't looking good for the two fighters. Dean turned around towards the back of the monster. He jumped up and swung his axe in the back of the monster. The monster let out of cry of pain.

"Lloyd! Kratos! Get out of the way. Genis will unleash a strong spell!" Dean said as he jumped out of the way.

"Stalagmite!" Genis shouted. The ground itself came above as a huge stalagmite pierced the monster from beneath. Dean took this time to charge up a spell himself as Lloyd and Kratos got closer to the monster again.

"Angel Feathers!" Colette shouted as four pink rings flew towards the enemy and hit it hard. The rings avoided Lloyd and Kratos and hit the monster in the head. Kratos and Lloyd then had time to attack the monster. The monster screamed out in pain, but wouldn't go down.

"Lloyd, Kratos, get out of the way!" Dean shouted at the warriors. At his queue the two of them jumped back. "Spark Wave!" Dean shouted as he unleashed his most powerful lightning spell he could do at that moment. An enormous ball made out of lightning which was the size of the monster itself consumed the monster, dealing it enormous damage. The monster screamed again and fell to the ground as the spell ended.

"We did it!" Genis shouted in happiness. Everybody put away their weapons, but something was off. Normally the monsters who were defeated would disappear after a while, turning into mana. This wasn't happening this time. All of a sudden the monster got up again.

"Kratos! Lloyd! Look out!" Dean shouted as the monster attacked the two warriors, slashing at them with its sharp claws, knocking them to the ground. The monster then headed towards Colette. Dean charged at the monster and swung its axe at it. The attack hit, but now the attention of the monster was at Dean. The monster was really fast and Dean couldn't block and avoid all of its attacks. Dean was getting a beating and he could die if nothing would happen. Genis and Colette hadn't gotten enough time to charge their magic spells and the professor was busy healing Kratos and Lloyd. Dean had no choice. He had to use his joker, his final retort. He charged his own body with the element of wind. This made sure that he could much faster than before, but it had a price. Moving at such a speed destroyed his body. If there was some kind of barrier on his body he could defend his body from destroying itself while using this kind of technique, but that wasn't the case here. Dean dodged the attacks of the monsters, jumped up in the sky and brought down his axe on the face of the monster, finally ending the fight. Dean landed on his feet as the monster disappeared, but he was brought down on his knees. He had used the technique only for a small period, but his muscles were damaged and he was unable to stand up at this moment. Dean took a look around him. Kratos and Lloyd seemed to be fine again. The professor had successfully healed them. She then walked towards him. She offered him her hand.

"Are you okay?" She asked as Dean didn't take her hand.

"Professor? Are you able to heal damaged muscles?" Dean asked the professor as he was in pain.

"Yes, but why do you ask?"

"Can you please heal the muscles in my legs then?" The professor did so without asking any questions. She was quickly done and Dean was able to stand up again. "Thank you."

"How did they get damaged?" The healing elf woman then asked.

"Did you notice that I moved a lot faster at the end?" Dean asked. Raine nodded. "Well, I somehow enhanced my body so it could move faster, but my muscles couldn't take the strain I put on them."

"Why would you do such a thing then?" Kratos asked. He had walked towards the two of them as he had seen that Dean couldn't get up.

"It was either that or getting killed by that monster. If I could place some kind of barrier on my body, then I could prevent tearing my muscles." Dean answered.

"I can teach you that, but it still is not wise to use such a technique." Raine said.

"Trust me, if I could have avoided using it, then I would have."

"Colette is going to pray at the altar. Let's pay attention." Kratos finished the conversation. Colette stood before the altar. A glowing blue energy was hanging above it.

"Chosen of Regeneration… You have done well in reaching this far. Now, offer your prayers at the altar." The voice of Remiel was resonating from above.

"Yes!" Colette prayed and unleashed his wings once more. "Oh Goddess Martel, great protector and nurturer of the earth, grant me thy strength." She now flew up. Light came from the altar and the blue energy disappeared. There appeared a sphere of white light above the altar and Remiel appeared from it.

"You have done well, Chosen One, Colette. The second seal is now released." The angel said with his commanding voice. The words were meant gentle, but Dean didn't like the way they were spoken. Dean could still see arrogance in the eyes of the angel. Dean didn't trust this angel.

"Thank you, Father." Colette replied.

"Accept this blessing from Cruxis. I hereby grant you additional angelic power." the angel continued.

"Ah… Father?" Colette said a bit confused. From the heavens there landed some magical energy on Colette, making her more beautiful as she already was.

"The next seal lies far north, in a place that gazes upon the end. Offer your prayers at the altar in the distant land."

"Father, have I done something to displease you?" The blond angel girl asked.

"It matters not. All that is needed is for you to become an angel. I will be waiting for you at the next Seal. Colette.. my daughter. Hurry and become a true angel. Do not disappoint me…" the angel flew up again, turned into a sphere of light and vanished.

"What's up with him? He always talks like he's so important." Genis said out loud.

"Apologize to Colette!" Raine said to her little brother, still angry. She wanted to slap him, but held back her hand at the last moment.

"It's all right. Father… Remiel really does sound like that." Colette said.

"Well, shall we get going to the next Seal? Althoug, he was confusing as usual." Lloyd said.

"Stop complaining. Let's get moving." Kratos said. Dean didn't say anything. He didn't want the others to hear his opinion. They believed in the Church of Martel, but Dean had always had doubts with this religion and it values. Many things just didn't make sense and people just believed what they were told, but Dean couldn't do that. He always questioned the faith. Over all, the people needed the faith and the church and it helped them in these difficult times. Dean always felt like there was some kind of hidden truth, but he couldn't figure out himself what that truth was. The group then moved towards the exit of the dungeon. Dean kept walking next to Colette. As they were walking out of the exit and now the bridge of light again, Colette walked a bit slower and fell back to the end of the group. Dean adjusted his step to her and looked confused at her. She started to breathe heavily and her face began to grow pale. She tripped, but Dean caught her.

"Professor? Something is wrong with Colette." Dean felt the front of her head. "She has a fever!"

"She's sick again!" Lloyd said.

"Yes, but if this is going to happen every time she release a Seal, Colette is going to have a difficult journey ahead of her. For the time being, I'm going to call the phenomenon Angel Toxicosis." the professor said. Colette seemed to wake up a little.

"Colette, are you okay? Does it hurt?" Genis asked her.

"I'm fine. It'll go away soon… I'm sorry for worrying everyone." The girl weakly answered.

"Okay, that's enough. You're not allowed to apologize any more, okay?" Lloyd said. The girl always said sorry even if it wasn't something she should apologise for.

"Hehehe… I'm sorry." she said again.

"Let's set up camp here." Kratos decided. "There aren't any tourists anymore. We can go back tomorrow. It would be bad to try to move her to the House of Salvation if we need to use those washtubs." The rest agreed. Dean stayed with Colette the whole time. He found a nice place where she could lie down. He grabbed some stuff so she could lie down. He took a blanket and put it on her. The girl looked at him and kept smiling, but this made Dean worry even more. He took a cloth and soaked it with cool water and put it on her head, trying to put down the fever. He then sat down next to her and stayed there. Colette took his hand and held it. He smiled at her and decided to watch over her. The others set up camp. Genis began to cook for dinner. Lloyd and Kratos somehow found enough firewood for a fire. Raine was on all fronts and checked up on Colette from time to time. Genis made something light. He also made a bowl of soup for Colette. Dean helped the girl eat.

"I'm sorry. It seems like you're looking after me again." The girl said.

"You would do the same for me. Besides you helped me when I had those nightmares. So don't worry. Rest. I'll stay here by your side." With that the girl fell asleep. Dean offered to take the first guard. That assassin could still be around. He ate supper with the rest of the group. They left some for Colette. She had eaten the soup, but she needed more food if she wanted to keep up her strength. Dean noticed that there were some ingredients that Colette didn't like, so he grabbed some of his herbs and honey and added them to add some flavour. He tasted the food a bit and noticed that it tasted a bit sweeter, just like Colette wanted. The girl awoke when the rest was sleeping. Dean was still asleep. He was reading a book he had lent from the professor. It was an interesting book that described the history of Palmacosta. Dean noticed the Colette was awake and put the book away.

"Hey… How are you feeling now?" Dean asked. He felt the forehead of the girl and it was at the right temperature again.

"Hey there Dean. It feels like my fever is down."

"I'm glad to hear that. Are you hungry? We left something for you."

"No, not really, but I guess I'll take a little bite."

"Do you want me to warm it up? It will taste fine this way, but if you rather have something warm I will warm it up for you."

"Cold is fine too. I'll take just a few bites." Dean gave her the food. The girl kept a smile on her face the whole time, but she ate it really slow.

"How is it?" He asked.

"It's really good, but I'm not that hungry." The girl giggles in a familiar way. Somehow Dean felt the urge to question her.

"Really? It's a dish that you normally wouldn't like."

"Oh no. The others told me as well, but my tastes have changed lately."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Does it taste any different?"

"Maybe a bit, but it is still the same."

"May I have a bite as well?"

"Sure." Dean took a bite. The flavour was the same as he had when he added the herbs. "Don't you think it tastes a bit more sweet than before."

"Yeah, you're right. I wonder why."

"I added some honey and herbs. I knew you wouldn't like it like that, so I added some flavour so you would like it."

"Aw, that's sweet. Thanks Dean."

"No problem." There was a pause. After a few more bites Colette put the food away. "Care for some tea?"

"Sure, but can you add some honey as well?" the girl asked. Dean let his suspicions go and began to boil some water in a small pan. He then poured the water into two cups which were filled with herbs which could be used to make tea. It wasn't the tea Colette would like, but he hadn't found all the herbs he wanted yet. After the water cooled down a bit he gave one cup to Colette. He drank from his own tea and then he noticed that he had forgotten to add the honey.

"This tea is nice." The girl said. Doubts came over Dean again. The girl was acting strange.

"Yeah, it really is. Can you guess which herbs I used?" the boy asked.

"You know I'm not good with those things Dean." There was that giggle again. "Besides, you added honey so it's sweet and then I really can't tell anymore." Dean hadn't added honey.

"So it's nice and sweet?" He asked.

"Yep, just the way I like it." Colette answered. The tea was actually a bit bitter. Adding honey wouldn't wash the bitter taste away and Dean knew that Colette didn't like bitter things.

"Colette. Are you hiding something from me?" Dean asked then. He wanted to confirm his suspicions.

"No. What are you talking about. Why would I hide something from you?" The girl giggled again. It was the fake giggle she always made when she was lying. Dean shook his head.

"Don't hide it from me Colette. This tea is bitter and I forgot to add the honey. If you could taste the food and the tea then you would say you didn't like it. Even if your tastes have changed, this is way too suspicious." Dean looked with an intense stare at the girl. "Now look me in the eye and answer me again. Are you hiding something?" The girl didn't say anything. She just looked away. "I'm sorry for doing this Colette. Please tell me. When did this happen?" the voice of Dean was soft and full of concern now.

"The Fire Seal." The girl said. "Ever since we broke the Seal there and I went sick all the food I've eaten tasted the same."

"No taste?"

"I can't do it anything when I need to force myself, so I haven't been eating much. I even ate things I normally wouldn't ate, hoping some taste would come, but nothing."

"So that's why you were confused at the Seal. You were trying to ask Remiel what was happening to you, weren't you?"

"It probably is part of becoming an angel."

"Even if it is part of it, this is insane. I always look forward to the taste of great food. If that would disappear, then my hobby of cooking would disappear as well."

"Please don't tell the others."

"Why not?"

"I don't want them to worry and I want this journey to be fun."

"That's so like you Colette. I will, but you have to promise me to tell what else happens after every time you unleash a Seal."

"Okay." The girl looked him in the eye. "I promise." Dean hugged the girl.

"Share your troubles with me. I will do so as well with you." Dean let out a yawn.

"Then tell me about your nightmares if you have them."

"Do I have to?"

"Or else I won't tell you what happens after the Seals."

"Hey, that's blackmailing. I didn't think you had it in you." Dean smiled at the girl. She looked confused at him, not getting why he thought that was funny. It was strange though. A pure and innocent girl like Colette was trying to blackmail Dean.

"Telling me will help you. You don't let those things out Dean. You always do that. You just put it somewhere deep inside you and don't let it out. That's not good."

"Okay. You're right. I do that. Then please help me with the nightmare I've been through." Dean gave Colette a hug again. She was surprised about this. Dean had suddenly felt weak. Having been told to confront his fears again his wall broke again. "Please let me be for this like this." Tears were once again running down his face. "See. You're there for me as well."

"Then we'll grow stronger together." the blond girl said.

"No more secrets."

"Yes. No more secrets." Dean didn't notice the lie the girl told him then. After a while Dean was feeling a bit better again. He took out the sleeping gear of Colette. The girl looked confused at him.

"I've lent you my sleeping gear. Can I have it back?" the boy said. The girl got it now. They both lay down. Dean then woke up Kratos. It was his time to watch the others. Dean quickly fell asleep when he lay down. It was a dreamless sleep.

Later that night Dean woke up from some noise.

"Hee… I couldn't sleep." He heard Colette say.

"You may feel better now, but you still ned to rest." Lloyd said. So that was the other one that was awake.

"I know. I'll go to sleep in a little bit. Don't worry."

"But still…"

"Kratos is still awake, too. See?"

That's because he volunteered to be the night watch along with Dean. Dean is sleeping now, so you should do that too."

"Okay."

"Okay. Good night." Lloyd went back to sleep and Colette then lay down next to Dean.

"Please, dream some good dreams for me, Lloyd." the girl whispered.

"So you can't sleep anymore?" Dean asked softly.

"It seems so. Even in my fever I didn't sleep. Sorry that I fooled you." the girl whispered back.

"That's okay." there was a pause. "I'm sorry Colette, but I'm going back to sleep. I want to stay awake with you, but even now I'm falling back to sleep."

"Then good night."

"Good night."

"Dean? Can I hold your hand? It always calms me."

"Of course you can." Dean let out a yawn and he fell asleep. The girl softly held his hand. She continued to do so the rest of the night.

Dean was woken up by Kratos. Dean trained with his axe this morning and one of the swords of Lloyd. Lloyd did some sparring with Dean with his swords against the axe and then was giving some other barehanded exercises by Kratos. Dean sparred against Kratos with one of the swords of Lloyd. Lloyd also used katana's just like Dean, so this sword felt even better than the sword of Kratos. Dean tried to push Kratos, but the warrior wouldn't budge. His defence was flawless like always. Still, fighting with this sword felt even better than fighting with Kratos' sword. During the sparring Dean tried out to charge his sword with the element of lightning as he unleashed the arte Sonic Trust. As he did this a bolt of lightning fell from the sky. Kratos jumped back as it happened. Dean looked perplex. He hadn't expected this to happen when he charged his weapon with the element of lightning. Kratos noticed the surprise on the face of Dean.

"That attack is called Lightning Blade." The mercenary said to Dean as he fell back into a fighting stance.

"You've seen this attack before?" Dean asked the mercenary.

"Yes, I know how to do it as well. Now prepare yourself, the fight isn't over yet." Kratos charged at Dean again, forcing him to go on the defence again. Dean noticed that Colette was watching them practise. The girl hadn't slept at all since unleashing the Water Seal. Dean didn't like it. This whole Journey of Regeneration was nothing like he imagined. Dean could only glimpse at Colette during breaktime, because during the sparring he needed all of his focus on his opponent. Dean noticed that it would be better to use brute force when using the axe. Dean was fast enough to respond to Lloyd's attacks if the boy in red managed to dodge his attacks. After training Dean prepared a light breakfast. The rest woke up as well. They ate and then rode back the washtubs towards the main continent.

"You looked so cool during training Dean." Colette said to him while riding the washtubs. As he had promised he was now riding the washtub with her. Kratos was with the professor now and the two boys were together in one washtub.

"You think so? Handling a different weapon than you're used to is really tough though."

"Yeah, but when you're fighting Kratos it looks like you're dancing. You two are really a good match."

"He is still withholding his strength though." Colette looked at him. "I'm trying my best to break through his defence, but without success. He isn't using all of his skills though. If he wanted to, he could easily defeat me. Maybe I'll have to use that again to force him into fighting me seriously."

"You want him to go all out on you?" the girl asked. She didn't get it. "Why?"

"I want to see his real strength. I want to see what he is capable of. Then I know how much stronger I will have to become. I will have a goal."

"You don't have a goal right now?"

"Of course I have. The whole journey of regeneration is my goal now, but then I have a clear view on how much I have to improve."

"Why do you want to improve that much?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"No more secrets Dean."

"Alright then. You're not going to like it. You still want to know?" The girl looked at him with determined eyes. "I got glimpses of the Desian Leaders. Those guys are really though. If Kratos would go all out he could take on those guys though. That's what I think. If I can become that strong, then I'll be able to defeat those Desian Leaders. They all complotted into doing those horrible torture sessions to me." Hate began to show through the voice of Dean. "I'm going to make them pay with they did to me. What they do that all the people at the Human Ranches. I'm going to stop them in a way that they'll never be able to do such a thing anymore. That is what I promised myself."

"Dean…"

"Sorry. I told you wouldn't like it. There is so much hate inside me now and I can't control it anymore."

"So much hate will only lead to suffering. Can't you forgive them?" A smile of madness and a glittering of the same madness appeared in Dean's eyes. He suppressed those feelings. He didn't want to show his insanity to her.

"Forgive them? They've done too many cruel things." Dean shook his head. "Some things can be forgiven. Others can't. They've done enough things that can't be forgiven."

"I see…" The girl looked glum.

"Hey. We're going to regenerate the world right? By doing so the Desians will leave as well. That is enough for me. I'm not going on a personal hunt of vengeance. Don't worry."

"Okay. I trust you." They arrived at the dock. Soon they were travelling towards Hakonesia Peak.

"So, what are we going to do? Are we really going to give that guy the Spiritua Statue?" Dean asked.

"Do you have any other idea?" Kratos asked.

"We still can show that guy that Colette is the Chosen by letting her wings out in front of him and then let her demand to see the Book of Regeneration." Dean replied.

"I don't know if that will happen. That guy is really stubborn." Lloyd said.

"He might be stubborn, but he can't be blind."

"So what do we do with the Spiritua Statue?" Genis asked.

"Why don't we give it back to the House of Salvation which lost it. See it as a good deed." Dean answered.

"I think the pastors will be pleased if we do that. Maybe they can arrange something for us that we can cross Hakonesia Peak." Collete said.

"Hold on. I remembered something." Genis began to dig into his backpack. "Ah, here it is. I found this at the Desian Ranch." Raine took a look at the thing Genis was holding.

"Oh my. This is a Pass we need to go past Hakonesia Peak. Why didn't you tell us you had this before Genis?"

"During all the commotion and with all that happened I guess I forgot. I just remembered that I had picked it up. It seemed important."

"Wow Genis! You rock!" Lloyd said excited.

"Well, now we don't have to worry about that anymore." Kratos said. "Let's go to the House of Salvation then." So the group headed to the House of Salvation. It was on the way to Hakonesia Peak. It took a week to get to the House of Salvation. In the morning Lloyd and Dean trained under the supervision of Kratos. In the evening or while he was on guard duty Dean studied the spell book of professor Sage. There was a spell called Healing Wind. Dean was trying to learn this spell. Professor Sage and Kratos could already heal, but it felt like a personal victory to Dean if he was able to use a spell that could heal instead of destroy. If he could help people with his magic, then that would help him reach inner peace as well. On some mornings Dean went hunting together with Kratos as their stock on food was running low. There were enough small rivers around for water. The week passed quickly and they arrived at the House of Salvation.

"Oh Chosen One, you have returned. Were you able to retrieve the Spiritua Statue?" one of the pastors asked Colette.

"Yup. Here it is." Lloyd took the Spiritua Statue out of his backpack. "Um… We would like to return this statue to you."

"Are you sure Chosen One? You said you needed it for your journey of regeneration."

"We don't need it anymore, so we're returning it to you." Dean then said.

"Oh Chosen One, you truly are kind. Please stay here for the stay. We must celebrate this with a feast!"

"Actually, we have a request. We are running low on supplies. If you could give of some supplies then we would be grateful." Raine said then.

"Of course, of course. Now please rest. You must be tired from all that travelling." Most of the group did that. Dean had been walking all day, but he still wanted to do something. He made the homework the professor had given him, but that wasn't enough. Colette seemed to be playing a game with Genis and Lloyd, but Dean didn't want to play. Both the professor and Kratos were reading a book. Dean didn't think it was possible, but he was bored. During the travelling there was always much too see, or he could talk a bit with someone or he read a book while walking. Travelling wasn't a problem. Back in Iselia he was always studying, training, cooking or playing. Now he had nothing he could really do, so he wandered around a bit. He asked if he could help around at the pastors and the people staying there, but there was nothing. Dean decided to go outside. The weather was really nice, so he just lay down on the grass and relaxed. The wind felt nice and the sun was shining down on his face. He relaxed completely and just lay there, doing nothing. His mind was blank and he was at ease.

"How unusual to see you doing nothing at all." he heard the professor say.

"It is quite unusual. There is just nothing I could do or wanted to do."

"You got bored? You of all people? You never get bored. I always see you doing something."

"Yeah… I know." There was a pause. Dean opened up his eyes, the professor was still standing there. "Why don't you lie down as well?" Dean asked the woman. "The weather is really nice and this is a perfect place to clear your mind."

"Lying down doing nothing is a waste of time." she responded.

"Really? We've been travelling for a while now. It's nice to do nothing some times. We can talk if you want you know. It's not like you have to lie down and do absolutely nothing."

"Oh alright, but just for a few minutes then."

"Do you have something to do then?"

"No, but…"

"Then lie down and relax." She still stood there, hesitating. She then made up her mind and lay down on the grass, next to Dean. There was a pause for a moment. Dean looked at the silver haired elf and noticed that she too seemed to relax.

"The weather is nice indeed."

"Yeah. It is." The two of them just lay there. Doing nothing. Enjoying the weather and it was good. Someone then came to get them after an unknown time. Dinner was ready and they were waiting for them. Dean just smiled at the professor and they headed back inside. The pastors could really cook. It was really a feast. The pastors even made a toast to the Chosen One and that the journey would proceed smoothly. Dean had a great time. Colette seemed to be having a good time too, even though she couldn't taste the food. A chill ran over Dean's back as he thought that the food she would be eating right now had no taste at all. It sounded like a nightmare. After dinner Dean was really full and rested a bit on his bed while reading the description of the healing spell he was trying to learn.

"Clear your mind." Dean read the description for the spell out loud. "Like your mind go blank and let the wind engulf you. Let the wind soothe your body and soul. Gather the wind magic and unleash it to mend instead of destroy." Dean emptied his mind. This was the hard part for him. It was really hard for him to clear his mind of all thought. He had to do it with all the spells, but this one was different. Would he want to use this spell he had to be at ease. It was hard now and it seemed impossible during a battle.

"Whoops…" a voice from outside said. Something or someone slammed at the door. "Ow…" The door opened. Colette was standing there and her nose was bleeding.

"How do you manage to trip like that?" Dean asked her and he got up and grabbed something to hold against her nose.

"I don't know… It just happens." the girl replied.

"Does it hurt?"

"Only a little bit. I'll be fine. I trip all the time. I heal fast because of it."

"I don't think that tripping a lot and getting hurt a lot makes you heal any faster."

"It's not like I can ask the professor for something like this."

"That's true. Wait… I'm trying to learn a healing spell. Can I try it out on you? Don't worry, nothing dangerous will happen. Nothing will happen if it doesn't work."

"Sure. I trust you Dean." Dean took a deep breath. He thought back to earlier that day when he was lying down on the grass. He imagined he felt the nice breeze of the wind and the warmth of the sun. Then he gathered the wind magic as this thought helped him clear his mind.

"Healing wind." Dean whispered as he unleashed the spell. A gentle breeze went around the room and it felt really nice.

"Hey, it worked. I knew you could do it Dean!" Colette said excited. Her nose was now looking a lot better.

"Yeah, but I can only do it outside of battle. I need to be peaceful, calm and need to clear my mind. That's really hard to do during a battle."

"That sounds hard, but I know you can do it."

"Thanks Colette. You're always so encouraging."

"Actually I came to get you. I taught Lloyd and Genis that card game we played before. Want to come and play with us?"

"Sure." The rest of the evening Dean played the card game with Colette, Lloyd and Genis. It felt like old times when they were playing games in Iselia. The evening went by way too fast and professor Sage had to send them to bed, because they didn't want the evening to stop. Dean could see that Colette was really having fun and that made him feel at ease as well. A dreamless night followed and Dean got up on his own. The handling of the axe went better with a little bit which each day, so it was nice to feel that he was progressing. The practised a bit of barehanded fighting and gave Lloyd some tips on how to defend himself and what moves not to make. Lloyd and Dean took on Kratos at the same time, but the mercenary still held his ground and managed to disarm them several times. Even if they tried to do a pinching attack the mercenary somehow found a way to defend himself and turn the battle into his favour. The teamwork between Lloyd and Dean improved due to these training sessions, which was really important in the upcoming fights. They also learned how to use combo attacks. Cross Trust is an attack where they use the arte Sonic Trust at the same time at an enemy, dashing right through the enemy in a X formation. Lightning Tiger Blade is an attack where Lloyd jumps up and slashes down both his swords at the enemy while Dean unleashes a multiple strike Lightning at the enemy. Thunder Tiger Blade is an attack where Dean charges Lloyd swords with the lightning element. Lloyd then uses the arte Tiger Blade and Sonic Trust after each other, hitting the enemy with a lightning bolt after this combination of artes is done. Tiger Blade is an arte where Lloyd slashes the enemy in the air while jumping and smashing them to the ground as he descends. Lloyd was super excited with this combination, because he now would be able to use an attack with a lightning element as well. These combinations required perfect teamwork and timing though, so they weren't easy to perform. They were pretty strong due to the difficulty of performing them. Lloyd and Dean decided that they would start practising these combination as well. After practice they had breakfast with the pastors. The pastors had given them more than enough supplies for the rest of the trip. They decided that the next stop after Hakonesia Peak was Asgard. It was a small town that was surrounded by mountains, making it a well-protected area. It took the group a bit less than a week to reach Hakonesia Peak.

"We are almost at Hakonesia Peak. I hope we can persuade the man to let us see the Book of Regeneration or else we have to go back to the House of Salvation and explain our situation to those pastors again. I'm holding you responsible if that happens Dean." Raine said.

"Well, Colette will need to persuade him so I think we'd better practise on how to persuade him." Dean then said.

"What? But I'm bad at acting." the blond girl replied.

"Yeah, everyone can always see through Colette when she's acting. She's like an open book." Genis said.

"Don't worry Colette. With enough practice you can do it!" Lloyd cheered the Chosen on.

"I hope this will turn out fine." Kratos said and he glanced at Dean.

"I'll help you practise Colette. Let's start right now." Dean said. Colette didn't like this, but she tried her hardest. Several hours during the travelling each day Colette practised trying to demand something from Dean. She was really bad at it. Dean thought it would be hopeless, so he decided that he would do most of the talking instead. The girl just wasn't convincing. At long last they arrived at Hakonesia Peak. It was quite a climb, but everyone was used to travelling and nobody had any trouble climbing. There were quite a few travellers and people who were on a pilgrim resting at the gate towards the northern region. The group entered the house of the man which sold the Road Passes. His house was filled with several unique pieces of art, but some of them looked like junk as well.

"So, you're back. Have you brought the Spiritua Statue like I asked?" The man asked the group. His voice was greedy and Dean didn't like this man already.

"Unfortunately for you haven't, but we will still see at the Book of Regeneration." Dean answered the man.

"Hahaha, no statue, no looking at the book. Now get out!" the man demanded. Dean nodded at Colette. It was her signal to unleash her angel wings.

"You dare to speak in such a way to the Chosen One?!" Dean then shouted at the man. The old man went pale.

"How, but… The Chosen One gave me this book… This can't be…" the man stuttered.

"Do you really think the Chosen One would give such a precious book away? It is a holy artefact of the Church of Martel. Imposters of our group stole the Book of Regeneration. They even fooled you old man…"

"I won't give it back! I bought it fair and square! It's not my fault the book got stolen." the man got angry.

"Um… If it is okay with you, we would just like to look at it. We don't need the book nor are we asking you to return it to us." Colette then said.

"Look, we just need to look at it for the journey of regeneration. Surely you understand that?" Lloyd then said.

"Alright, but only those two pretty ladies can look at it. I will have no man look at it."

"Deal." Dean then said. Mission accomplished. Colette and Raine carefully opened the Book of Regeneration and started to read it.

"Hmm… It's written in a very old style." the professor said.

"What does it say?" Lloyd asked.

"There's quite a lot of text. Colette, please read aloud just the parts that concern the seals." the elf woman asked the blond girl.

"Okay, I'll skip over the torn parts." Colette answered. She carefully flipped some pages until she found with she was searching for. "Raging flames in an ancient city deep within clouds of sand overlook the city, lighting the darkness. Pure, flowing water floating, overflowing, in an isolated land becomes a giant pillar and rains down from the sky. Sublime wind, ancient city, the world's… Enshrined in the center of a giant stone seal lurks evil, impersonating a holy force. Shining…gazing up at the summit of the gods, giving praise to the pillar of the world…from the top of the tower of

ancient gods. Two giant… …The rest is too damaged. I can't read it…"

"Then we don't even know how many seal are left." Genis said.

"Let's try to figure out what the text means first. Maybe that will help us." Dean said.

"The 'raging flames' part at the beginning must be the Seal of Fire, right? What do the other parts mean?" Lloyd said.

"The water part with the island must be the Seal of Water. That was at Thoda Island at the geyser." Dean said.

"The Seal of Wind must be… the Asgard Ruin. If we travel to Asgard, we should be able to find some clues." Raine said.

"We were heading towards there anyway, so that's a good start for now. What about the rest of the text." Dean said.

"What about 'gazing up at the summit of the gods'?" Genis asked.

"I think that's probably the Tower of Mana. From there, you can see the mountains around the Tower of Salvation, so that's probably the summit of the gods." Colette answered.

"But what seal is that?" Lloyd asked.

"Um… I don't know." Colette said. The rest didn't know as well.

"Oh, well. At any rate, we know where the seals are now. Let's get going." Lloyd said. He turned over the old man. "Thanks gramps."

"Thank you so much." Colette said.

"Sorry for shouting at you." Dean then said.

"Ah, it's no big deal. I helped the real Chosen One with this anyway. Come back whenever you like if you want to look at it again." the man replied. The group left.

"That worked out alright." Dean said when he got outside.

"Even I was convinced by you Dean." Colette said. "You're a great actor."

"We should just be glad it went well. It could have turned out quite different. Let's move on." Kratos said and he went on. Dean was no fan of using the fame of the Chosen One like this, but it was absurd that the man demanded a relic of the church so they could look at a book. The man got what he deserved in his eyes. The group approached the guarded exit and showed their road pass.

"That's a road pass indeed. You may proceed." the first guard answered.

"Good journey to you!" the second wished them luck.

* * *

><p><strong>That cheap bastard got what he deserved! That needed to be said. The game sometimes doesn't use common sense in my eyes, so I make sure that happens sometimes. The group released the Seal of Water and the training between Dean, Lloyd and Kratos continues. The training will come back a lot, so I hope you don't mind too much.<strong>

**Enjoy the next chapter as well!**


	6. Asgard and the 'Summon Spirit of Wind'

**This chapter OC Dean is getting back a sword! No more swinging around an axe for him. Many other things will happen again. Please look forward to them.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Tales of Symphonia. Although... I lost count how many times I have completed the game...**

* * *

><p>The group was heading towards Asgard. The professor was excited the whole time. The city was full of ruins and her eyes went alight every time the name of the town was named. This time they were travelling quite some time before they reached their destination. The terrain was much rougher around these parts and there were more monsters around. The monsters were also more aggressive and stronger around this area. They were still no match for the Chosen's group, but the group was being attacked several times at night in this area. They decided that it would be better to put two people on guard during the nights because of this. Everybody slept with their weapons next to them and were more aware than normal. Because of this the group was really tired when they arrived in Asgard. It was evening when they arrived. They searched for the nearest inn and went to sleep, happy not to be on guard the whole time. Even Kratos looked tired and he hadn't looked tired before.<p>

"Man, the monsters around this area are really aggressive." Lloyd said for the fifth time that journey. He and Dean were sharing a room. "I'm so glad we're finally at Asgard."

"Yes, even in the other areas the monsters weren't this aggressive. I wonder why that is." Dean responded.

"Well, I'm going to sleep. Good night Dean."

"Yeah, good night Lloyd."

"_One." a voice said. After that word a familiar pain suddenly appeared on his back. A whip lash could be heard. "Two." Slicing pain after this hit as well. The pain didn't disappear, it just combined with the pain that was already there. "Three." Another hit. This went on and on. There was no light, only pain. Only the voice could be heard. He felt the pain, the ground underneath his feet and the rope around his wrists that held him in this standing position, unable to move. The whipping went on and on. "One hundred." Dean heard the man say. It just didn't stop. Dean screamed and shouted and didn't care anymore. He just wanted this to stop, but it didn't stop._

"Dean! Dean! DEAN!" Dean woke up. Lloyd was shaking him around. The others of the group were standing in the room as well.

"What?" Dean said as tears once again fell down his face. "Oh thank the Goddess. It was a dream, but why does the pain feel so real?" Dean said as he was in shock.

"He's finally awake." Lloyd said and sighed.

"I'm sorry… Was I screaming that loud?" Dean asked, barely holding his voice together.

"You were screaming for like half an hour, but you wouldn't wake up." Lloyd said. Dean felt that his face was wet. He looked confused at the group.

"We tried all sorts of things, but you just wouldn't stop screaming and just kept on sleeping. It was like someone had put some sort of spell on you." The professor answered. Everyone was wearing their night clothes.

"I'm sorry…" Dean said.

"Don't apologise." Colette said.

"Let's get back to sleep." Kratos said and everybody went back to their rooms, except for Colette. She looked concerned at him. Dean got up.

"Go back to sleep Lloyd, I need some fresh air." Dean said. His voice was back to normal.

"Will you be alright?" the boy asked concerned.

"Yeah, don't worry. It's not like a monster will attack me in the middle of this town." Dean answered.

"That's not what I meant."

"I'll stay with him Lloyd. I'll make sure he's alright and then go back to sleep." Colette then said.

"Don't stay up too late." Lloyd said.

"We won't. Good night Lloyd." Colette said. Dean and she walked out of the room and went outside. They walked around in silence for a while. They then sat down on a bench somewhere in the town. Colette took Dean's hand and gentle squeezed in it.

"I was being hit by a whip." Dean started to say. "I could see nothing. I couldn't move. I could only feel pain and the voice of someone who was counting the number of lashes. It was horrible. I just didn't stop."

"It's alright. You're safe now." Colette said and she gave Dean a hug.

"Thanks Colette. I hope I didn't scare you too much."

"I just wish I could do something more to help you. I'm sorry I'm not so much of a help."

"You ARE helping me Colette. I wish I could help you as well. You can't sleep and food still has no taste." The girl looked sad when he said that.

"It's part of becoming an angel."

"What's next Colette? What will you lose at the next seal? I wish there was a way we could just stop with this journey, but if we stop Sylvarant will be destroyed. I want to help you, but I don't know what to do."

"It's okay Dean. I'm okay, so you don't have to worry about anything."

"You're planning on going through this to the end?"

"It's what I was born for. It's not only that. I want to save Sylvarant. I see people suffering at every town and village we get. I have to power to help them. Even if this is the price I have to pay."

"You're strong Colette."

"It's getting a bit chilly. Shall we return to the inn?" Colette asked.

"Yeah. Thanks for the support Colette. I needed it."

"Always glad to help." They walked back to the inn holding hands. Dean stayed awake the rest of the night though. He was at the moment still too afraid to fall asleep. He knew he needed the sleep, but the thought of having to endure another nightmare was enough for him to stay awake. The time passed slowly. About half an hour before training would start Dean got up and started training on his own. It helped him clear his mind and process his fears.

"Looking good." Dean heard Kratos say. "That looks much better than at the beginning." Dean turned around and looked at the mercenary. "You look tired Dean."

"Couldn't sleep anymore. Not after that. The pain wouldn't go away. It is now."

"You need to sleep Dean. Go back to bed."

"No." Dean shook his head. "I don't want to. I'll go to bed early today. Just let me stay awake."

"You're no use to us if you're tired like this."

"I'll stay at the back and help with my magic."

"Fine! Do as you will. I'll ask Raine if she knows a potion or a spell that will help you sleep without any dreams."

"Do things like that exist?"

"I'm not an expert on healing and supportive magic. I do not know."

"Don't know what?" Lloyd asked.

"Nothing of importance. You're late. Fifty push-ups." Kratos commanded.

"Aw man…" Lloyd complained, but he did as told. Kratos and Dean did a warming-up in the meantime. Dean's reaction time and reflexes were a bit slower that morning due to the lack of sleep he had. He had been on night's guard several times as well. He really needed some sleep. He knew that. He could defend himself while he was awake, but how did he defend himself against his dreams, against his nightmares.

After breakfast the group went to explore the town. The town had several caves with paintings and writings on it. The professor dragged them to one cave to another. She had forgotten why they were in the city. Finally they headed up some stairs and came in a large area with a humongous tablet.

"Oh! It's the Asgard Ruins!" The professor exclaimed and ran towards the dais. "Lloyd, state the historical background of this ruin." she asked the boy in red. Lloyd wasn't prepared for this question.

"Ah, um, well, let's see…" He stuttered.

"It's the temple where Cleo III held a ritual to offer a sacrifice to the Summon Spirit of Wind in order to quell a storm that had raged for a week." Genis explained.

"That's it!" Lloyd said. Happy that his friend just saved him back there.

"Gah! Have you learned anything at all these years I have taught you?!" Raine said disappointed in her student.

"PE and Art and-" Lloyd seriously answered the question, not getting the meaning behind the question.

"Never mind!" the professor said. She then continued with examining the stone dais. "What perfect form! This delicate curve is said to express the flight of the Summon Spirit of Wind through the sky. In addition, it is said that this stone is infused with a large volume of mana and at night a beautiful glow emits from the dais. Oh, I must simply observe that!" The professor was in one of her moods again. Lloyd, Genis and Colette called it her Ruin Mode, because she turned into a different person every time they arrived at a ruin. She went on with her explanation, but only Colette was listening. The professor didn't notice this. Lloyd walked around the stone dais, looking bored. Kratos was just standing there and Dean was having a chat with Genis. They then heard voices from behind the stone dais. Dean checked it out. Raine was standing on the precious stone ruin.

"Professor, these guys said they're planning to destroy this stage." This infuriated the woman.

"And you call yourselves human beings?!" She shouted and she kicked two boys on the ground.

"I am a half-elf." One of the boys said.

"What has that got to do with anything?" the elf woman said and kicked the boy again. She then wanted to explain the importance of the ruin, but she somehow flipped a switch of a device that was standing at the stone dais.

"Uh-oh." Lloyd and the two boys said.

"You say you're going to destroy this fabulous ruin. Now listen. During the final era of the Balacruf Dynasty, this ruin was…" Raine explained

"Professor!" Lloyd interrupted.

"What? If you have any question, I'll take them after the lecture."

"The bomb turned on!" Lloyd interrupted again.

"I said, if you have questions, I'll take them la-" Then the meaning of the words Lloyd just said finally went through the head of the professor. "What?"

"Woman! You flipped the switch!" The half-elf boy said.

"Don't try to put the blame on someone else!" Raine said and kicked the half-elf again.

"That doesn't matter now! Is there a disarm switch?" Lloyd asked the boys.

"Of course not!" the half-elf boy said as he got up from the floor.

"Don't act like you're proud of it!" Raine kicked the boy again. Dean found this all hard to look at. Still he didn't want to get close to the professor as she was like this.

"I guess I'll just have to disarm it myself." Lloyd said and began to work on the device. Somehow he managed to stop the bomb.

"Hey, you're pretty good to be able to stop the uncontrollable 'breaker'" the half-elf boy said. Lloyd angrily looked at the boy.

"Don't go around building stuff you can't control!" Lloyd shouted at the boy.

"The ruin seems to be unharmed. Thankfully."

"You there! Trespassing in this area is forbidden!" Suddenly they heard a voice yell. Everybody was surprised at this.

"Oh no, it's the Mayor!" one of the boys said.

"Uh-oh. Run!" The boys ran away.

"It's seems like we're not supposed to be here. Come on Lloyd and professor Sage. We need to go." Dean said, finally making his presence noticeable.

"I wanted to study it more…" the professor sighed. They managed to escape from the scene. At the end of the stairs the group got together.

"Who were those two?" Lloyd asked.

"I wonder why they wanted to destroy the ruin?" Dean asked out loud.

"Yes, the ruin! We have to stop them from engaging in such foolish acts like trying to destroy a ruin. Let's go, Lloyd." The professor ran off together with Lloyd.

"Okay. Let's ask around the town had happened." Dean said. "Let's also try to find any clues about the Seal of Wind." They all split up in pairs. Genis and Colette went together and Kratos and Dean were a pair now. They first asked around the tourist area of the town. They learned that the Summon Spirit of Wind had appeared at the stone dais and that it was demanding sacrifices. The people didn't want to, but the Summon Spirit was nothing they could handle. So the ritual dancer was chosen to be the sacrifice. They were led towards the area where the townspeople lived. The houses here didn't look nice like the tourist area. Most of the houses were caves and from both the inside as the outside it looked really poor. It wasn't a nice sight. The houses at Iselia looked much better than this. Even the houses at Triet had even looked better than this. Not everyone was profiting of the tourists in this town it seemed. The group met up in this area and went inside the house of the ritual dancer.

"Um… Excuse me. Is this where the ritual dancer lives?" Genis asked politely.

"You're those tourists from earlier!" the half-elf who was at the Asgard Ruin said.

"I am a scholar." Raine answered.

"Whatever. Get out!"

"Harley, stop it!" they heard a female voice say. "Please come in. This is my house. My name is Aisha. I understand that you were the ones that stopped Harley and my brother. Thank you."

"I'm not sure 'stopped' is the best way to put it." Kratos said.

"They got in our way." Harley said.

"It doesn't matter what you call it!" Aisha scolded Harley. "The point is, the people of this city are the ones that would suffer if that ruin was destroyed."

"But as things are now, you're going to be sacrificed." Harley responded.

"So you're the ritual dancer. How come you're going to sacrificed?" Dean asked.

"It's a ritual in honour of the Summon Spirit of Wind." the brother of Aishi began to explain. "Aisha was chosen for it. Originally, the ritual consisted of just dancing on the stone platform, but-"

"This idiot started meddling with the stone dais as part of his research and opened the seal." Harley intervened. "Because of that, the Summon Spirit of Wind-thing awoke and now it is demanding sacrifices."

"The seal? Do you mean…" the professor asked.

"What?! The seal?" Colette asked.

"Yes! If you, too, are researching the Balacruf ruins, then you must be aware of the altar erected in praise of the Summon Spirit of Wind. The seal really existed, just as the legend said!" the other boy said.

"Are you saying that the Balacruf Pillar hieroglyphics are not just a myth?" the professor asked.

"It sounds like this isn't the seal we're looking for." Lloyd said.

"Yeah, but the Summon Spirit of Wind is supposed to be at the Seal of Wind, so what is this thing that appeared?" Dean asked.

"Raine… Aren't you forgetting why we're on this journey?"

"Well, it's all right… It's not as if it's completely out of our way." Kratos said.

"Yes! In the back of the platform there is a small indentation and-" the little brother of Aisha continued.

"That's enough!" Harley shouted. "Aisha's about to be sacrificed to the Summon Spirit tonight. Now get out of here!" the half-elf chased the group outside the house. The group decided to investigate what was going on and went back to the stone dais. They mayor was standing in front of it, guarding it.

"You're the ones that went up on the dais." the mayor said.

"Yes, we're sorry about that. We hadn't heard what had happened." Dean said.

"I am a scholar. May I please have your permission to study this ruin?" Raine then asked.

"There's an idiot just like you in this city already. Thanks to Linar the city's tourism industry is on the verget of collapse. I refuse."

"You mean the sacrifice? We've heard about that." Kratos said.

"Then you should understand. We can't allow anyone to disturb the dais any further and risk bringing down the wrath of the Summon Spirit of Wind. The only one who may step up upon this stage is the Summon Spirit dancer." the mayor continued.

"Then I shall become the dance. Then it would be fine for me to go up onto the stage, yes?" Raine offered.

"Professor!" Dean and Lloyd both shouted.

"Calm down you two. According to the Book of Regeneration, this should be the next seal. If we can meet the Summon Spirit, we should be able to tell. The sacrifice that the Summon Spirit seeks might even be the Chosen of Mana." the professor explained her actions.

"I see! That's our Professor!" Colette said.

"You just want to study the ruin first-hand." Lloyd said, seeing through the professor. The professor got mad at Lloyd.

"You should learn to keep your mouth shut, Lloyd." Genis said.

"Please Mayor." Raine once again asked the mayor.

"…Do as you wish." the mayor decided after thinking for a while. "I won't be held responsible if it costs you your life." The group then headed towards the house of Aisha. The professor would need to learn the ritual dances and change clothes after all. After explaining what they had asked the mayor…

"It's not right for you to have to take my place…" Aisha said.

"There's nothing to worry about." the professor said.

"Raine, are you sure you're going to be okay?" Genis asked his sister.

"Don't worry Genis. We will all be there at the ritual dancing. If something goes wrong we will help the professor."

"Now then, I should learn the dance and change clothes after that. After dinner the ritual will begin. The rest of you can relax or do something else until then." Rain said.

"So what do you want to do?" Colette asked Dean.

"Well, I thought I say a weapons shop in the tourist district. I'd like to see if they have a sword I like. Although, I don't know if I have enough Gald to buy a sword." Dean said.

"Mind if I tag along?" the blond girl asked.

"You can come along. Let's go."

"Oh, I want to look at swords as well!" Lloyd said excited. Genis decided to go with us as well. The shop had quite a lot of different weapons and models. They even sold chakrams for Colette. If they had the Gald they could get better weapons for everyone in their group. They owner of the shop was nowhere to be seen, even though the shop was open. There were test models for each model. Dean tried out several swords. Most of them felt really good, but the perfect feeling of his old sword wasn't there. It had been a custom made sword for Dean. Dean missed his old sword. The swords that Dean did like were quite expensive. Maybe Dean could switch the axe he was using for a sword here. The axe was of top quality, but the axe just didn't suit Dean that well. Finally the owner of the shop entered. Dean wanted to propose the offer, but the man looked really worried.

"Um… Excuse me. Is something the matter?" Dean asked the shop keeper.

"Oh what should I do. My daughter likes to paint herself. She's quite good at it, but as she was playing outside she was abducted by monsters." the shop keeper explained.

"Abducted? Not attacked?" Dean asked.

"Yes. The monsters think she is one of them. I've tried to save her, but the monsters attacked me. I don't know what to do anymore."

"We could help. We're travellers ourselves and we know how to handle the monsters around the region." Dean said.

"Really? Then please help me. You can even grab a weapon of choice in the store if you think it will help you. Anything to save my little girl." the shop keeper offered. Everyone picked the weapon they wanted. "Now follow me." The group followed the man outside the town. They went into a forest to was close to the town. The man apparently knew where he was going. After half an hour of walking they arrived at an open spot in the forest. There was a girl which was covered in paint and she was barely wearing any clothes. The girl was probably around a year of ten. She was surrounded by a pack of different kind of monsters and seemed to be playing with them. When the monsters saw the group they showed their fangs and claws, letting them know they were not welcome.

"Daddy! Look daddy! I've made new friends." the girl said happily. She wasn't aware of the danger she was in.

"That's great honey, but please come home now." the shop keeper answered. He was afraid of the monsters and was concerned. The man was shaking.

"But I want to play some more."

"Um… Excuse me sir, but has this happened before?" Dean asked the shop keeper.

"To be honest yes. Normally the monsters aren't aggressive against me as well. I came to get her every day, but the monsters don't want to let her go now." the shop keeper confessed.

"Everybody lie down your weapons." He said to the rest as he put down his own weapons. They looked confused at him, but did what he said. "You too Sir." The shop keeper was carrying an axe. He didn't drop it.

"What are you going to do Dean?" Colette asked.

"Maybe if we show we don't mean any harm, then they won't harm us. I'm going towards the girl without any weapons. I want to show them I come in peace." Dean answered.

"But they're monsters! You never know what they will do." Genis said.

"You're right, but something is off with the monsters in this area. They are too aggressive. It's like they know danger is coming and now they are trying to protect their territory no matter what and guard their young ones even more fiercely." Dean said.

"You're mad!" The shop keeper said. He still dropped his axe though.

"Genis, have a simple spell ready to help me put distance between me and the monsters if things go wrong." The elven boy nodded. Dean then calmly walked towards the monster with his hands in the air. The monsters growled at him and made other strange noises, but didn't attack him. Dean walked towards the girl. The monsters didn't attack him, but kept their eyes on him and the others of the group. When Dean was at the girl he kneeled down and stroke his hand through the hair of the little girl.

"Hey there. I'm Dean. Your daddy asked me to bring you home. Do you want to come along?" Dean asked the girl. The monsters around him relaxed a bit more.

"Hi Dean. I'm Alice. I was playing with these nice monsters. They're my friends!" The girl said happily.

"Yes I know Alice. Do the monsters act more strange lately?"

"They told me that the town isn't safe anymore, that there is a strange evil force there." Dean figured that the girl meant the strange Summon Spirit of Wind.

"The monsters told you that? Well, my friends and I are going to investigate that evil force and if he tries to hurt us, we'll take you down. Can you tell your friends that we will defeat that evil force and will protect you?"

"I can try." the girl said. The girl went to one of the monsters and whispered something to it. The monster then made some strange sound. She then walked back to Dean. "They say they don't trust you and that I can't go home." Now this was a problem. They had to get the girl away from all these monsters.

"Can't you convince the monsters that I'm strong enough to protect you." The girl nodded. She then went to the monster again and whispered something again. After getting an answer the girl went back to Dean.

"They say that you have to defeat one of them on your own. You can't use one of these fangs you brought with you." By fang the monsters probably meant his sword.

"Genis! Don't do anything. Only attack if they attack you. Don't help me!" Dean shouted towards his elven friend. He didn't know if he had heard him, but he had to assume that he did. "Okay, I agree to fight one of them."

"Don't kill them. They're my friends."

"I just hope they won't kill me." Dean muttered to himself. The girl nodded to the monster. The girl went to the other monsters and all their focus now went to Dean and the other monster. This monsters was an insect like monster with sharp scythes. Dean had to use his magic to defeat this monster. The monster started to circle around Dean. Dean took a battle pose and just followed the monster with his eyes. He then tried to form a sword with wind magic, but that didn't work. He had to fight this creature with his bare fists. He then charged his fists with wind magic. This did work. The insect monsters suddenly leaped at him, making the first move. Dean rolled away and dodged the attack. The monster used his scythes to continue to attack him. Dean dodged each of the attack, then duck under one of the scythes and punched and kicked as hard as he could against the face of the monster. The monster couldn't reach him with his scythes, Dean was too close to the monster. Dean kept attacking the monster with full force. He then charged his right fist with a great amount of lightning mana.

"Thunder Punch!" Dean shouted as he slammed his fist against the monster unleashing a bolt of lightning out of his fist and slamming the monster away. Dean knew this wasn't enough to finish the monster off. He kept his guard up. The monster let out a shriek. With this the girl happily ran towards Dean.

"He says that if you could defeat him without your fang, that you are strong enough to defeat the strange evil force."

"So they're letting you go home."

"Yup! Although I wanted to play more. You were awesome mister!"

"Let's not worry your father any more shall we." Dean took the girl by the hand and they went back to the others. The shop keeper hugged his daughter tightly as she ran into his arms. When Dean looked back the monsters had disappeared. The rest had taken up their weapons as well. Colette gave Dean his sword. They then all towards Asgard.

"Wow Dean, you were so brave!" Colette said excited.

"He's either brave or really stupid." Genis said.

"Man, you beat a monster barehanded." Lloyd said.

"It was quite a dangerous situation. I agree with that." Dean replied.

"How did you know it would work?" Lloyd asked.

"I didn't."

"You didn't?! Are you sure you haven't caught the stupidness of Lloyd?" Genis asked.

"Hey!" Lloyd said back.

"Well, this whole area felt strange from the beginning. The monsters are much more aggressive than the other areas. The monsters didn't think the girl as an enemy, so I thought that if I went towards the girl without any weapons and showing them I meant no harm I could get passed them and could solve the situation without using any violence. Alice is the one who is really amazing. She can communicate with the monsters." Dean explained.

"Alice? You mean the girl?" Lloyd asked as he looked at Alice. Dean nodded.

"Yes. The monsters understood what she said and she could understand what the monsters said back to her. It's nothing I've ever seen something before and even thought possible. She said the monsters a strange evil force was inside the village. The monsters tried to protect her, that's why they didn't let her return to the town."

"The monsters protected her?" the shop keeper asked. "But if they can understand her they should have known that I'm her father."

"Your daughter said she wanted to play more with the monsters, right? So they probably thought she didn't want to return with you. Together with the fact that the village wasn't safe in their eyes anymore they kept her away from you as a means to protect you." Dean explained. "I don't know if this is right though. I'm just thinking out loud."

"No, Dean is right!" Alice then said. "My friends said that the village was a scary place and that I shouldn't go back anymore."

"Well, I tried to convince the monsters by saying I would protect Alice against this strange evil force. They first wanted me to prove that I was strange enough, so I had to fight one of them barehanded."

"Why didn't you use magic?" Genis asked. "You could have easily won if you used magic."

"I wasn't trying to kill the monster, just beat it. Besides, I had to show them I was strong enough. Defeating a monsters with your bare hands proves better that you are strong than by showing magic. That's what I thought at the time at least."

"Well, you are very strong if you managed to defeat it with you bare hands." the shop keeper said.

"I did use my magic to increase the strength of my attacks though. Or else It would be the same as punching against a wall."

"What if you couldn't win that way? What then?" Genis asked.

"I would probably use my magic. Using magic was my last resort. I know by hitting the right places even with basic magic attacks can render your enemies defenceless."

"So you had a battle plan ready just in case." Genis concluded. "What if the monsters did attack you when you approached Alice?"

"Then I would have no option than ran back like crazy, grab my sword and defeat the monsters with all of your help."

"That would have looked funny." Lloyd said grinning.

"You should be glad that it didn't happen. I took a gamble and quite a big one at that. I'm glad it turned out well."

"Yes. I'm most grateful to you all." The group then arrived at Asgard. "Let's head to the shop. I have something for you." Dean wondered what it was. They all followed the shop keeper. "As thanks for saving my daughter I'd like to give you those weapons you're carrying." the shop keeper said as they were inside.

"Are you sure? These weapons are all very expensive. We can't possible accept such an offer." Lloyd said.

"Nonsense. Humans lives are far more worth than any amount of money. You won't drive me bankrupt. A lot of travellers and tourist visit Asgard and most of them are looking for weapons."

"Thank you very much Sir." Dean said.

"Enough with the whole Sir thing. Call me Thomas. Now, Dean was it? I have something special for you." The shop keeper took Dean to the back of the store. He grabbed an important looking box. He then opened it. Inside it there was a sword inside a black scabbard. Thomas took out the sword and gave it to Dean. "This is for you." Dean accepted the weapon. He looked with wonder at the weapon. He unsheathed the sword. It was a katana just like he preferred. The blade was made out of silver. Dean carefully swung the weapon around. The balance of the sword was perfect and it felt like he was holding his old sword in his hand, but this one somehow felt even stronger.

"I don't know what to do." Dean said.

"Say you'll accept it. It's the strongest sword I have. It hasn't been on sale, because it really is a beauty and nobody would be able to afford this sword. It's a sword from the Great Karlan War. I heard it was rarely used and the sword is in perfect condition. It was been in the family for many generations. You showed so much kindness and bravery today, it's the perfect weapon for you." Dean was moved by this act of kindness.

"Thank you Thomas. I won't ever forget this. I'll treasure this sword."

"Don't treasure the sword boy! Use it! That's what it's made for." The two of them headed back to the room where the rest of the group was. Alice was running around and seemed to be having fun.

"Daddy! These people are really nice. Can I play with them outside?" Alice asked her father.

"As long as you don't go outside of the town." Thomas answered with a kind voice.

"Yay! Thanks daddy!" The girl ran outside.

"Wait for me Alice." Colette said and she followed the girl.

"Thanks for everything Thomas." Dean said.

"Come back sometime if you're in Asgard again." Thomas said as Dean left the shop.

"I'll come back to say goodbye if we leave." Dean shouted back as he left the shop. The others were already playing with the girl, running around. Dean decided to join in with the fun. Sometimes you just had to bring back the child that was inside of you and don't care what others would think of you. The four of them played around until it was almost time for dinner. They then brought back Alice to the store and went to Aisha's house. They were all dirty from playing all the time. They had a great time. Dean was wearing the sword at his belt. He couldn't put it on his back like he used to, but he didn't mind. He was really glad he got such an amazing sword. It didn't take long for them to reach Aisha's home. Kratos was waiting for them outside.

"You're late. Dinner is already ready. Hurry up inside." the mercenary said. He looked at them with a strange look. Well, their clothes were really dirty.

"Where have you been?!" Raine said angrily. She was already wearing the clothes for the ritual dancing.

"Wow, professor. You look really pretty." Colette said.

"Thank you dear, but don't avoid the question."

"Well, it's kind of a long story." Dean said. He then told the others what had happened in the time they were away with the help of Lloyd, Genis and Colette. They ate dinner while saying the story. The rest of the group was silent the whole time, fascinated by their story.

"A girl that can communicate with monsters. Fascinating." the professor said as they finished their story.

"Well, I've hear stories of a girl that lives in town that always has her body covered in paint, but that she's able to communicate with monsters. I haven't heard that." Aisha said.

"Well, I don't believe them. I think they just made that up as an excuse. How come you're so dirty anyway?" Harley said. He had a doubtful look in his eyes.

"Well, that's because we had so much fun playing with Alice afterwards." Colette said. "The girl is really cute."

"Believe me or not, but look at this. I told you Thomas gave us weapons as a reward, take a look at this." Dean unsheathed his sword and showed it to the others. "Took a good luck. The blade is made out of silver. Even if I made that story up, there is no way I have enough Gald to buy such a sword."

"You sure you didn't steal it?" Harley said back, still not believing them.

"I'm not someone who's of your level." Dean returned a remark back.

"You take that back!" Harley shouted. Dean ignored him.

"Even if you don't believe us. Ask Thomas, the weapons shop keeper. He'll tell you the whole story." Genis said.

"I might just do that."

"Be my guest." Dean said. He didn't like the remarks of the half-elf boy. Dean knew it was a strange story, but he wasn't someone who would lie and steal. If the boy would accuse him of that, than he wouldn't sit back and be nice against him as well.

"Stop it you guys." Aisha said. "I believe you."

"Don't we have more important things to worry about?" Kratos then asked.

"Oh right. The dancing ritual. It's almost time for it." Raine then said. "Alright. Let's go. I can't wait to see this Summon Spirit of Wind." The elf woman got up and walked towards the door leading outside

"Professor please wait." Dean then said.

"What is it Dean, we don't have any time to wait anymore." the professor said back Dean, being impatient.

"The monsters were talking about a strange evil force inside the village. I think they meant this Summon Spirit of Wind. Be careful. I'll come help you if something looks wrong." Dean said.

"Thanks Dean, but I'll be alright. Now come on." The professor almost rushed outside. She wasn't even afraid of her life, even though she was about to be offered as a sacrifice. They arrived at the stone dais. There were a lot of people waiting. Most of the people of the town were afraid, but still wanted to see the Summon Spirit of Wind. Raine climbed the stone dais. She was holding her staff which she would use during the ritual dance. The elf woman then started to dance in a beautiful way. She would sometimes hit the stone dais with her staff and a circle of mana emitted from the point where the staff hit the ground. The dance was quite complex. Dean was surprised the professor had learned such a dance in such a short time. She normally didn't look like a dancer. As the dance was over Raine kneeled down. A magic circle appeared and from it emerged a monster.

"I have come for the girl." The monster demanded in a low dangerous voice. The monster had a broad blade as a lower body. It was floating in the air. It had a broad upper body. It was purple of colour, had sharp claws and green wings. Sharp horns were on its head. There was a small tornado around it. The blade at the lower body was looking the most dangerous.

"It's not… No, Professor! That is an evil creature. It's not the guardian of the seal!" Colette shouted. It was the sign Dean had been waiting for. He jumped up the stone dais and unsheathed his silver sword. The others also jumped or climbed up the stone dais. The professor took some distance from the monster.

"Professor, use light magic. Genis, do your thing. Colette, angel magic. Lloyd and Kratos let's take this thing out!" Dean shouted orders to everyone. The three warriors who would be fighting up close didn't rush towards the monsters. The blade on the lower body of the monsters looked really dangerous. The monster looked confused around him. He had suspected to eating a nice sacrifice and not a frontal assault on him. He let out a battle cry.

"Photon!" Raine then shouted, unleashing her magic. A sphere of light surrounded the monster, blinding it. This was the signal for Dean, Lloyd and Kratos. They rushed forward now that the monster was distracted.

"Lloyd! Combination number two!" Dean shouted at Lloyd. He charged his lightning magic. Lloyd jumped up high in the air. Kratos ran in such a direction that he would be behind the monster.

"Lightning Tiger Blade!" Dean and Lloyd shouted as they unleashed their combination attack. At that moment the sphere of light exploded inflicting damage on the monster. Kratos then attacked the monster from behind. Lloyd attacked it from the front. Dean attacked from the side. Now that the monster was pinned down they unleashed their artes on the monster.

"Demon Fang! Hurricane trust!" Lloyd and Kratos shouted as they unleashed the same artes at the monster.

"Tiger Blade!" Dean had learned this arte from Lloyd. It was actually quite easy to do. "Lightning Blade!" Dean trusted his sword at the monster and unleashed a bolt of lightning from the sky as the attack landed. The monster was now heavily wounded. The three close range fighters took their distance from the monster, wary of it fighting back now.

"Angel Feathers!" Colette unleashed her angelic spell. The monster was hit hard by four pink magical rings.

"Stalagmite!" Genis shouted as he unleashed his earth element spell. Sharp rocks rose up from the ground underneath the monster, sending it flying. Dean also started to prepare for a spell. Even though the monster had wings it fell hard on the ground. It let out a cry and started to attack Lloyd with his claws. Kratos then attacked the monster from the back.

"Photon!" Raine unleashed her light attack again. This gave Lloyd the time to recover.

"Spark Wave!" Dean shouted. An enormous ball of lightning appeared at the place of the monster, electrifying it. Lloyd and Kratos ran towards the monster, ready to finish it off.

"Cross Trust!" They shouted as they used Sonic Trust at the same time on the monster, dashing right through it and finishing it off. The monster disappeared and was turned into mana. Raine walked towards the place where the monster had been and picked up and stone tablet.

"Fantastic! You're all fantastic. You were fantastic as well Raine!" Linar shouted.

"Hah. It was hardly a challenging opponent." Raine said bragging. Sure, because of their teamwork they had easily defeated the monster, but it could have turned out way different. "Now, more importantly, look at this stone tablet. It has ancient Balacruf writing inscribed on it."

"Let's decipher it right away!" Linar said. This scholar was just as excited as Raine. "I have the necessary materials assembled in my house."

"Yes, let's go!" the professor said and off the two went. The others relaxed and put their weapons away.

"Those wings!" the Mayor said as he pointed at Colette. She still had her wings. "Might you be the Chosen One?!"

"Um… Yes, that's what they call me." Colette answered as she made her wings disappear.

"The Chosen and her protectors have come to this town and we haven't noticed?" the mayor continued. He was really surprised. "I must apologise for my behaviour earlier."

"Don't swell it." Lloyd answered. "We don't like to brag that we're the Chosen's group. We just like to enjoy the towns and villages as they are. Besides, we did this because we wanted and it's our lead to the Seal of Wind."

"At least let me pay your stay at our finest inn as thanks." the mayor said.

"We appreciate the offer." Kratos said. The mayor then went away to make the arrangements.

"Um… Thank you very much. You're the Chosen's group and we haven't treated you well."

"That's okay Aisha. You've let us stay at your house and showed us your hospitality. That's enough for us." Dean said.

"That thing wasn't the Summon Spirit of Winder after all, was it?" Harley asked.

"I bet Raine and Linar will investigate what is really was." Genis answered.

"Yeah, that Raine is a half-elf after all. You can count on her wisdom." Harley said.

"What are you talking about? Genis and Raine are elves." Lloyd said.

"What? Surely you don't think I'd mistake my own…" Genis then looked down. He looked sad.

"Ah, actually, I guess I was wrong. It seems you two are pureblooded elves. I must not have been paying careful attention." Harvey continued.

"We should get some rest. I'm exhausted." Lloyd said as he placed his right hand on Genis' left shoulder.

"Yes. It has been quite a long day." Dean said.

"I wonder what kind of inn we'll be sleeping in." Colette said excited. They went down the stairs. They met up with a servant of the mayor which showed them the way the inn. They each had their own room in this inn. Dean was glad. Now nobody had to see the scars of him. Dean, Colette, Genis and Lloyd played a card game for some time, but they each went to sleep quite early. It had been a long day. Dean was really exhausted. He changed into his night clothes and fell asleep almost immediately.

"_You disappoint me." Kratos said. He had his sword turned at Dean and was looking at him with a menacing look._

"_Why Kratos?" Dean asked the mercenary. Dean was bleeding. The rest of the group had already fallen. He was the only one left._

"_I thought you would put up more of a fight. I guess you were holding back. How foolish. Now everybody is dead and Colette will be taken away from you." Dean saw Colette in her angel form. She was just floating there. There was something wrong. Her eyes looked weird._

"_Colette!" Dean shouted to the angel girl, but there was no response._

"_Farewell Dean." Kratos said as he brought his sword down on his foe._

"Ah!" Dean woke up with a short scream. Just before the sword would hit him he had woken up. This time he felt no pain after the dream. This dream was different from the others. It somehow felt like a warning, although Dean had no idea why Kratos would betray them. The very idea seemed very absurd. Dean had no idea how late it was. There was no clock in this room. He decided he would go for a quick walk and check the time in the main hall of the inn. The inn was very quiet. The rest of the people were sleeping, except for Colette. She couldn't sleep after breaking the Seal of Water. It was almost five o'clock. That meant that normally a bit later than this Kratos, Lloyd and Dean would begin with their daily training. Lloyd had become a lot stronger lately and Dean finally felt he was getting back his strength. Suddenly a flash of the dream became before his mind eye. The image of Kratos swinging his sword down on Dean, finishing him off. In the state he had been in the dream he hadn't been able to do anything. Even if he had put up Guardian, the magic shield, Kratos would just wait until Dean couldn't keep the shield up anymore and would finish him off anyway. If Dean would ever find himself in such a situation, he would need to improve his defence. If his enemy was too quick or too powerful and Dean couldn't evade the attacks, he would be done for. He barely wore any armour and he relied on his speed way too much. Then an idea hit him. He should try to improve his defence with magic. The professor could use support magic to increase the defence of everyone by putting a weak shield around everyone for a short while. It wouldn't cost too much mana to do such a spell as well. Maybe Dean could make his own defensive spells which had the element of wind of lightning. That would work. The only downside to this was that he had to cast the spells immediately and that they had to be strong enough to defend him. Dean would need to improve his magic a lot. First he had to learn how to use supportive defence magic on himself and others, then he had to create his own defensive spells and as last he had to decrease his magic casting time so that he would be able to cast the spells instantly. So it seemed to Dean he was back to training a lot again. Improving his swordsmanship in the morning, discussing magic with Raine, Genis and Kratos during the travelling and practicing magic in the evening. It would become though, but it wasn't impossible. As he was returning to his room, deep in thought Kratos opened the door. It startled Dean.

"So there you are. I came to pick you up for training." Kratos said to Dean. He then looked at Dean. "Get dressed. You can't fight wearing those clothes." With that the mercenary left for Lloyd's room. The man seemed to be in his usual moods. Although it was hard to guess in what kind of mood Kratos really was. He was always so serious and uptight. He showed almost no emotions and having fun didn't appear to be in his dictionary. The professor behaved like an adult as well, but she showed enough emotion. It was like Kratos was hiding something and that he had put up some kind of a wall. Dean wondered what happened to make a person do such a thing. Even though they had been some time together on this journey, Dean couldn't get a grasp on Kratos. He was strict, but he always helped them. It just didn't make any sense. Dean pondered about these things as he got dressed, grabbed his weapons and headed downstairs. Kratos was waiting outside and Lloyd wasn't there yet.

"Lloyd's not here yet again?" Dean asked the mercenary.

"Let's begin without him." Kratos answered. "Hm? Why have you brought your axe with you as well?" Dean was holding the axe with his hands. He looked confused at it. Why had he brought it along.

"I don't know." He answered as he shrugged his shoulders. "I guess I'm not fully awake it seems."

"Well, it would do you no harm to keep your skills with that axe up as well. Having something to fall back upon if somehow you would lose your sword isn't a bad thing."

"Fighting with a sword is more my style, but I guess you're right. I'll practise with my axe from time to time as well."

"Good, it will help Lloyd to fight against different kind of weapons as well." As Kratos said this Lloyd ran outside. Kratos sighed again, like he almost did every morning when Lloyd was late. Dean was used to it though. If Lloyd was on time when arriving at school it was a miracle. The three warriors then began their training. Lloyd was still trying to learn how to fight barehanded, but he was showing great progress. Dean was testing out his new sword while sparring with Kratos. This sword felt way better than the sword of Kratos and Lloyd. It felt like the sword truly belonged to him. It had the right weight, the right length and the right feeling when Dean swung the sword around. Kratos was still better than him, but Dean felt like he was getting closer that the level of skill that Kratos possessed, even though Kratos was holding back. Dean could sense this. There was more than enough opportunities for the man to punish him, but he didn't take them. Dean was smiling the whole time that he was sparring. He enjoyed to finally be able to fight with a sword that perfectly suited him. During training they wouldn't use artes on each other. Artes were way too dangerous to use during a training session. By using their artes on monsters they improved the use of their artes. Sometimes they would use the artes in thin air without aiming at a target. They would give feedback on each other during these times. After sparring with Kratos with a sword, Kratos made Dean spar with Lloyd. Dean had to use his axe though. Lloyd had the upper hand, but Dean was getting much better at defending himself with his axe and using the longer range of the axe to gain the advantage. After that Dean sparred with his sword with Lloyd as his sparring partner again. This time Dean had the upper hand. He felt like he was dancing with his sword. He avoided the attacks of Lloyd, parried the counteracts and even managed to disarm Lloyd this time. He heard Lloyd curse. Both Lloyd and Dean were still improving a lot, but it was nice to know that Dean could still defeat Lloyd. He had been afraid that Lloyd had been gaining too much on him lately. But now his movements felt so much more natural and not forced when he was fighting with a sword. Training was over before Dean realised. Lloyd was looking beat, but Dean felt like he could go on for hours. The professor wasn't there with them as they ate breakfast at the inn. The chefs of the inn had prepared the meal. Dean was beginning to miss cooking already.

"Let's go look for the Professor." Lloyd said after breakfast.

"She's probably still conducting research with Linar." Genis said.

"You think she and Linar have been studying that tablet we obtained from the monster all night?" Dean asked Genis.

"Knowing Raine she will have."

"Boy is she going to be tired when we resume travelling." Lloyd answered.

"Yes, we should go easy on the Professor today." Colette then said. "She worked all night just to decipher where the next Seal is. She's doing so much for this journey."

"Actually, I think she just went into her Ruin Mode again and couldn't stop thinking about anything else except deciphering that tablet." Genis then said. Everybody agreed with that. Ruin Mode was the name the group had come up with whenever the Professor saw a ruin or something ancient. Her eyes would suddenly lit up and she would start touching and studying the ruins. She seemed completely obsessed with the ruins while she was in this state. The usual calm Raine seemed to vanish every time the group came to a ruin. The group of travellers went to Aisha's house. Raine and Linar were eating breakfast when they entered. They looked really tired.

"Good timing. We just finished deciphering it." The professor said with her mouth full.

"Looks like it took longer than you had suspected." Dean said to the two.

"Oh no. The professor is amazing! She deciphered the complex Balacruf writing in no time at all!" Linar said excited.

"Then why did it take all night?" Lloyd asked

"Well, if I would have deciphered it on my own it would have taken me a week. Do decipher it in just a night is a miracle." Linar answered.

"It seems like Raine just gained another fan." Genis noticed.

"She's quite the catch, huh?" Lloyd said.

"It seems she has." Dean then said. Raine looked annoyed at the teens for some reason.

"It would appear that the monster was the cause of the calamity that afflicted the ancient Balacruf Empire." Raine started to explain.

"It seems that the summoner at the time used Sylph, the Summon Spirit of Wind, to seal it away, then built this stone dais to suppress the calamity." Linar continued.

"In preparation for the day when this calamity might reawaken, he left this map in order for people to be able to locate the Summon Spirit of Wind, but somehow the map got sucked in along with sealing the monster." Raine continued their explanation.

"After a great many years, people eventually confused the calamity with the Summon Spirit of Wind…" Linar finished the explanation.

"So now you know where the Summon Spirit of Wind is located?" Genis asked.

"Of course. The location of the Summon Spirit is the location of the next seal. That is the Balacruf Mausoleum." Raine answered.

"Wow! I wonder what the Summon Spirit of Wind is like! I can't wait to see it!" Lloyd said. He was excited now, like always.

"Now we can finally regenerate the world!" Colette said.

"That's right. You're the Chosen's group. I'd like to thank you for everything you have done. Without your help I would have been sacrificed. I should have noticed sooner. You don't look like ordinary travellers or tourists." Aisha then said.

"Well then. Now that we know our next destination, we should be on our way." Kratos then said. It always seemed like he wanted this journey to be over as soon as possible.

"Okay. Let's get going." Lloyd decided.

"Well, please take care." Colette said as the group bid the woman and the two boys goodbye.

"Can we stop at one more place please?" Dean asked. "I'd like to say goodbye to Thomas and Alice. I promised them to do that." Raine and Kratos looked at each other. Kratos then nodded to the elf woman.

"Very well, but only say goodbye. No playing around!" The professor said as she gave permission to go. "The rest of us will stock on provisions. It seems we're still missing a few things."

"Aw, professor I wanted to say goodbye as well." Lloyd complained.

"Me too!" Genis and Colette said together.

"Fine!" Raine said annoyed. "We'll meet at the entrance to the village. If Kratos and I are there sooner than you…"

"That won't happen professor. Thank you." Dean quickly interfered, before Raine could finish with her sentence. "Let's go guys!" The four teens then quickly ran towards the weapon's shop leaving Kratos and Raine behind. They entered the shop. Thomas was standing behind the desk.

"Hey there Thomas." Dean said.

"Ah, it's you guys again. Welcome! Can I help you with something?" Thomas asked.

"No. We're leaving. We came to say goodbye."

"Ah, that's too bad. Alice wanted to play some more with you. She's been restless. She'll be sad you'll be leaving."

"Where is Alice?" Colette asked.

"She wouldn't leave her room. I'll go get her." Thomas left the room. Dean decided to look at the weapons in the shop in the meantime. There were all kind of weapons and they all looked beautiful, yet deadly.

"Colette!" A girl screamed and ran to Colette and gave her a big hug.

"Hey there Alice. Have you been a good girl?" Colette asked. Colette always had been good with small children and she also loved pets. She adored dogs and named every dog she came across, even if it had a different name.

"Uhu! I'm going to help daddy today." Alice answered excited. She wouldn't stop hugging the blond Chosen.

"That's so sweet of you."

"Did you come over to play?"

"No Alice. We wanted to say goodbye. We need to go." Dean interrupted.

"But why? I like you and you like me. Why can't you stay? Why must you go?" Alice almost started to cry when she heard the news.

"We're on an important journey Alice." Colette said to the girl.

"Am I not important to you?" the Alice asked pleading.

"Of course you are Alice, but if we don't finish our journey the world is going to die. Colette is the Chosen One. She has really pretty wings. You will die too if we don't go. If you behave like a good girl then you will get to see the pretty wings of Colette." Dean then said to the girl. Alice was crying a little bit.

"I'll be a good girl. I'll help daddy as much as I can." Not able to stand the goodbye Alice ran back to her room.

"She'll be fine. You need to go right?" Thomas said.

"Yes. You're not surprised we're the Chosen's group?" Dean asked.

"Nah. I've heard what you guys did at the stone dais yesterday. It seems like I gave my weapons to the right people." Thomas responded.

"Yeah thanks again for that pops." Lloyd said.

"Well, then goodbye Thomas. We'll drop by as soon as we have the chance." Genis promised.

"Goodbye Alice!" Colette shouted towards the room of the girl. There was no response however. It was hard for the group to leave, but they did. They waved goodbye to Thomas who was standing at the door of the shop. The four teens then headed towards the entrance of Asgard. On the way they met up with Raine and Kratos who seemed to be done shopping. The group then continued on their Journey of Regeneration as they left Asgard behind.

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><p><strong>And that was the mysterious girl Alice. You will get to see her again, but it will take some time. <strong>

**Monsters are strange creatures, don't you think? I still wonder how they came into existence. **

**The next chapter the Seal of Wind will be unleashed. We will see Sheena again as well!**


	7. The Seal of Wind

**If you think a lot about it, Colette is going through a lot in the journey. Lloyd will find out this chapter what it means to become an angel as well. Please enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia.**

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><p>The monsters in the area of Asgard were a lot less aggressive now that the fake Summon Spirit of Wind was defeated. It was kind of weird that the monsters had been so aggressive for weeks. It was like they had sensed the awakening of the monster. For the group it was a breath taker. They didn't need two people on the night's guard anymore and that meant a lot more rest. For Dean the days and nights passed really quickly. In the morning was the training with Kratos and Lloyd. During the travelling he often discussed magic with the Professor, Genis and Kratos. After dinner he had about an hour of improving his magic before he either went to sleep and took the night's guard. During the times that he had to guard during the night he would talk with Colette all through the night. They would talk about his ideas of creating his own defensive spells and they would talk about their time in Iselia. It made Dean miss his parents.<p>

"Have your memories returned?" Colette asked out of the blue. They had been silent for a while and it was almost time for Dean to wake Lloyd to take over the night's guard.

"My memories?" Dean thought aloud. "No… Nothing has returned. My lost memories haven't been on my mind lately."

"Wasn't it a great part of your reasons to go on this journey?"

"Yes, it was, but things have changed. Helping you on this journey is more important to me now. Defeating the Desians has become my personal goal. I know what they do to the people in those ranches now. Every time I hear or think about the word Desian I feel some much hate, fear and anger boiling up inside of me. It makes me want to kill every last one of them." Dean looked at Colette. He had been absorbed in his own thoughts again. Colette looked strange at him. She almost looked afraid… "I'm sorry. Did I scare you?"

"To be honest. Yes, you scare. Only a little bit. I can feel the hate every time I look in your eyes if we talk about the Desians. I know they did horrible things to you and I can't ask you to forgive them, but that look in your eyes makes me feel uneasy."

"I'm sorry Colette. It was never my intention to scare you. I want to protect you. Although it feels like I'm sending you to closer to your grave every time you unleash a seal."

"I'm not going to die." Colette let out a fake giggle. "I'm just turning into an angel."

"If losing your appetite, not sleeping anymore and who knows what else is in your store for you means to become an angel, I never want to become an angel myself." Colette looked down after Dean had said that. "I'm sorry. It seems I'm the one who needs to apologise all the time this night."

"No, that's okay."

"No, it's not okay Colette, but to be honest with you… I just don't know any other way. I know you're suffering, but if we stop with the journey of Salvation Sylvarant, this world itself will die. Defeating the Desians wouldn't be enough. The mana is slowly fading away and with that the life energy of every living creature on this world. I want to help you. I want to protect you, but I don't know any other way."

"There is no other way Dean… I'm glad you care so much about me, but I care about the world and everyone in it too. If going through these hardships means saving you and the others, then I'm okay with this."

"You're strong Colette…" Dean yawned. "Time for me to get some rest."

"Then I'll pretend that I'm asleep again. Goodnight Dean."

"Thanks Colette, I'll wake Lloyd up now." Dean then worried that someone had heard him talk with Colette. They had been whispering it first, but they were talking out loud at the end. Dean looked around him and saw that everyone, even Kratos, was fast asleep. Travelling still was hard and they would walk all day every day they were travelling. It took a while before Lloyd would wake up. Dean stayed awake for a while to make sure the boy wouldn't fall asleep again. After Lloyd was fully awake Dean went to sleep and left Lloyd alone. They had encountered no more monsters during the night lately, so they should be alright even if someone would fall asleep. Besides, Colette was always awake so she could wake the others if it really was necessary.

The following day they got to the House of Salvation. It had taken them one week. The journey to the Balacruf Museum would take them a bit longer. They rested for the night at the House of Salvation and stocked a bit on provision, but the merchant that was around the House of Salvation didn't have much food. They either had to go hunting or had to be even more careful with their provision on the way to the Seal of Wind and back. Right before they left they encountered another traveller. They told him that they would get short on provisions soon.

"Mmm… Maybe you can go to Lake Umacy then. It is a day travelling from here. The lake has clean water and it is a perfect place for hunting. There are also a lot of eatable plants near that area. Also legend has it that an unicorn lives in the area. It seems the unicorn will appear before a pure maiden. They say that sometimes, the visage of the unicorn appears on the surface of Lake Umacy." The traveller told the group.

"It seems worthwhile to go to this lake." Raine said.

"So it would seem." Kratos answered. That settled it. They would go to this lake.

"Thanks for the information." Lloyd said to the traveller.

"No problem. Us travellers have got to help each other. Where are you heading?"

"We're heading for Balacruf Museum." The professor answered.

"Are you sure you want to go there. The museum is closed."

"Still, we have to go there. Thanks for the information." Dean said to the man. It was still their motto not to reveal that they were the Chosen's group. There still was an assassin after them after all. People would tell where they were heading to the wrong persons if everyone knew who they were. They had to be careful.

Like the traveller had said it took them one day to reach the lake. They set up camp a bit before entering the area. The lake was located in a forest. They would fall prey to monsters if they rested too near to the area of the lake. Instead of training Kratos, Lloyd and Dean hunted and gathered food in the forest that morning. They had to fight of quite a few monsters, but some of the monsters were eatable. Meat came from monsters and even some monsters carried herbs or fruit. It had always been like that. After hunting the warriors headed back to the group. They prepared the food they gathered in a way that it would stay fresh for some time. Most of the food wouldn't last for more than three days, so they had enough provision for the coming three days, but had to be careful with the rest of their provision from then on. After this the group headed towards the lake. Colette had insisted that she wanted to see the unicorn, even though it probably wouldn't be at the lake. When they first came in sight of the lake they marvelled of the beauty of the nature around this area. The lake was quite grand and it held beautiful trees and flowers around the area. The lake was pure blue and the water felt nice and cool. The group drank some of its water. Dean had never known water could taste so much different in another area. After relaxing for a bit the group was ready to leave again.

"Look at that!" Lloyd suddenly said. He pointed at a point in the water. There was something in the water. It was a unicorn. The unicorn seemed trapped in the water. There were a lot of broken trees piled up on the unicorn and that trapped the creature. It still seemed alive though and not wounded, but it was simply trapped.

"It's beautiful…" Colette simply said as she stared at the creature.

"It's a unicorn! Raine, it's a unicorn!" Genis shouted at his sister, clearly excited.

"Yes, but why is it…" The professor answered seeing the problem.

"It's like a prison of water. It's trapped under these trees. Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about it." Kratos said.

"Then, we can't go see him…" Colette said disappointed. She had wanted to see the unicorn so much. Now it seemed so close, but they still couldn't reach him.

"Can't you do something with your magic Genis?" Lloyd asked the elf boy.

"Do what? My magic is not strong enough to free the unicorn. We could probably do something if we somehow borrowed the power of a Summon Spirit, but I'm not a summoner." Genis responded.

"The art of summoning was lost long ago. The knowledge is still available, but like magic someone must be gifted with the art of summoning. There's no way we'll be able to do that…" The professor explained.

"Then hopefully the unicorn will get free in time…" Dean said.

"All we do is pray." Colette said that and prayed for a little while.

"Let's go guys. There is nothing we can do." Lloyd said after a while. The group left the forest and once again headed towards the Seal of Wind.

The journey towards the Seal of Wind took a bit longer than one and a half week. The monsters in the area weren't matched for the strength of the group and their great teamwork. Sometimes they were ambushed by thieves who were after their Gald and provisions. In the other areas they had encountered some thieves, but in the area around Asgard there seemed to roam around a lot more of these thieves and murderers. Nobody of the group liked to take the life of any other human, half-elf or elf, but in situations like that it was kill or be killed. These encounters left a bad taste after they had defeated the thieves. Most of the time going after the leader of the group was enough, but one time the thieves had been desperate and they had to kill every member.

"Why can't we live in peace?" Lloyd asked after they had encountered another group of thieves and had defeated them. "I mean the Desians are bad enough. Why must we fight each other like this?"

"I know it is not fair, but these are harsh times. Some people only know how to steal and kill. It is their way of survival." The professor answered.

"Even after the salvation those kind of people will keep on existing. There are always rich and poor people. People who can't afford food beg and steal food. A child that loses its parents to disease at a young age with no one to look after often starts with stealing food and as he grows up he might become a murderer as well. Like Raine said, they are trying to survive in their own way." Kratos said.

"I hope after the salvation people will stop doing this and live together in peace." Colette said.

"That is a beautiful wish, but it could be that wish will never be fulfilled." Kratos answered to that.

"Let's go on. Talking about this doesn't make me feel any better." Dean said. They all agreed with him. Nobody said something for the rest of the travelling that day. Because of the recent encounters with a lot more thieves they decided to go back on two people standing guard in the night. Kratos and Dean were taking the first guard.

"Sometimes I wonder whether it makes a difference." Kratos said suddenly out of nowhere.

"What are you talking about? If what makes a difference?" Dean asked back.

"This Journey of Regeneration. Even if we regenerate this world now after some time the seal will weaken, the Desians will return, mana will fade away from Sylvarant once more and another Journey of Regeneration will begin…"

"If you look at it like that, then yeah, it seems like it doesn't make a difference. If there was a way how to change this system, where the Journey of Regeneration wasn't necessary and the Desians could be kept away, I would love to find it and make it happen."

"It is a strange system, isn't it? It feels like a cycle that has no end."

"Not only that, but many things don't make sense. The journey of Regeneration is a journey to seal the Desians and to make sure that mana return to Sylvarant. Without the Desians there will be no more oppression and with the mana restoring the land itself will grow stronger and the people will start to flourish. There are some things that doesn't make sense though. Iselia has a non-agression treaty with the Human Ranch in order to protect the Chosen One, right?"

"That is correct. That way the Chosen is out of danger of the Desians."

"Why would the Desians want that?" Dean asked Kratos.

"I don't know what you are getting at…"

"The Journey of Regeneration is to seal the Desians and restore mana. After the world regeneration the Desians will disappear, like some kind of evil. Why would the Desians choose not to attack the Chosen? If the Chosen is dead, they won't be sealed. It is true that they will fade away with the rest of the world if the Chosen fails, but why wouldn't they instead help the Chosen achieve World Regeneration if that is the case?"

"I've never looked at it like that."

"That's the problem, nobody has. They all assume that the Desians are evil, have to be stopped and that the world regeneration will save them all."

"You don't agree with them?"

"Oh, I hate the Desians more than anyone in this world. After what they did to me… I feel like I want to kill them all, so they won't be able to do such things to anybody else." Dean paused a bit to calm himself down. "That's not what I'm trying to get at. I've seen that Desians are half-elves, I saw that with my own eyes. I felt the torture and saw the torture they did to others, but I never saw the reason why they all did that. They all hated humans, you could see that in their eyes. It just doesn't make sense. Why would they do that? I feel like I'm missing something. I was part of some kind of experiment and I know they talked to me what it was for, but I can't remember."

"You were in a horrible state back then. You seemed more dead than alive."

"Yeah… Don't want to go back to that state again. I think I'd rather kill myself than go back to that life."

"…" There was a moment of silence. Painful memories started to haunt the mind of Dean again. Dean wanted to resume talking so that his mind would go something else than the past he wanted to leave behind.

"Well Kratos, you've seen much of the world as a mercenary. Do you have some kind of answer?"

"No. I don't. I know that this journey of regeneration makes in a way no difference, but I don't have any answers to the questions I ask myself and that you asked." Dean got the feeling that Kratos wasn't telling the truth, but he couldn't read the man again. In a way distant, neutral and mysterious. The man said he was doing it for the money, but he put a lot of effort into his actions as you would consider the reward he would get. He also helped Lloyd and Dean improve with their swordsmanship. If he truly was only in for the money he wouldn't have done that. The man didn't explain his actions and Dean wondered if they would ever find out the motives of the mercenary.

"Well, whether it makes sense or not, all we can do is continue with this Journey of Regeneration. There is too much at stake to just question the meaning of this journey and stop. I hate to say this, but as far as we know there is no other way." Dean concluded.

"So you'll stop looking for an answer?" Kratos asked another question. He really wanted Dean to think about this.

"I'll search for an answer. I'll look for clues during this journey and also after the journey. I just don't know where to search. All I can do is look around the world. Is that the reason you became a mercenary? To search the world looking for an answer to your question."

"Perhaps. Excuse me, I have questioned you too much. Let's wake Lloyd and Raine, they have the next guard." The man avoided the question. Dean was aware of this. Getting a hold on the man seemed impossible. Dean helped wake up Lloyd as the boy kept on sleeping even after shaking him. That Lloyd sure could sleep through everything. Dean went to sleep after waking Raine up. The questions Kratos asked him kept him awake, but he fell asleep eventually. The next morning he had trouble getting up for practice. Kratos didn't seem sleepy even though he slept only a few hours just like Dean had. Lloyd was awake for now, but would get it rough during the travelling.

The next day the group arrived at the Balacruf Museum.

"It took us long enough to get here." Lloyd said exhausted. This place was a tourist spot alright. There were several people here looking at the museum from the outside. Some of them said it was a waste to get here since they couldn't enter the building anyway. After talking with a few people the group headed towards the entrance.

"Climb the central stairway and offer the map at the altar." Raine said. The elf woman had another glow in her eyes. She couldn't wait to explore the museum. It sometimes seemed she was more interested in the ruins than in the journey itself.

"Yes, Professor." Colette answered. The group approached an altar. When they got closer the altar opens up like some kind of insertion slot.

"It seems to be responding to the Map of Balacruf." Raine said after observing what had happened. "Here Colette. Put the map on the altar." The Professor handed the Map of Balacruf to Colette. The blond girl put the map on the altar. From out of nowhere an oracle stone appeared in front the altar.

"It's an oracle stone!" Genis said excited.

"Just like we thought. This is a seal." Lloyd said.

"Okay then, I'm going to put my hand on it…" Colette said as she put her hand on the oracle stone. The sealed door into the museum opened.

"Let's hurry up and get this over with." Lloyd said.

"Longing for bed already Lloyd?" Dean teased the boy in red.

"Shut it! These Seals get on my nerves, that's all."

"Yeah right."

"Be quiet you two." Raine said, making the two of them stop. The group headed inside. It was pretty dark inside the building. There was some strange kind of sound, like wind brushing over several things. There were also other weird noises that seemed to be in some kind of pattern. The presence of monsters could be felt inside the museum.

"Oh! This is pretty cool! I feel like an explorer!" Lloyd said excited.

"…You always start out enthusiastic." Kratos commented on the reaction of Lloyd.

"Not so sleepy anymore Lloyd?" Genis asked his best friend noticing the change in his behaviour.

"Just leave him alone. He doesn't know what he wants." Dean joked around again. Lloyd choose to ignore the two. The group then explored the museum. There was treasure in this dungeon again. Most of the treasure contained useful accessories that would help them during battles. The noises that appeared in a pattern were traps. In the beginning they noticed a piece of the ground that was made out of metal. Lloyd wasn't paying attention and was joyfully running around, feeling like an explorer.

"Lloyd, look out!" Dean shouted to the boy in red, aware of the danger. He quickly cast a wind spell that pushed Lloyd back. The boy was pushed hard to the ground. Some of the group had to avoid him as he was pushed back.

"Ow. Dean! What the hell?!" Lloyd shouted angry at Dean.

"Lloyd calm down." Raine said. "Do you see that metal on the ground?"

"Observe." Dean said and then walked towards the metal carefully and then jumped up and slammed his feet with force on the ground on purpose near the metal on the ground. Spikes rose up from the metal and Dean landed. Dean then walked slowly over the metal. Nothing happened now.

"It seems to respond to vibrations on the ground. If you had kept on running those spikes would have killed you on the spot Lloyd. That's why I pushed you back so forcefully. I'm sorry I did it with such force." Dean explained. Lloyd's face was pale.

"I'm sorry for shouting at you Dean. Thanks!" Lloyd said.

"You would have done the same for me if you would have noticed."

"It would be wise to stick together and walk around this dungeon carefully. Who knows what other kind of traps awaits us?" Kratos said. Everybody agreed with him. All throughout the dungeon there were slabs with writing on the wall on it, but they couldn't read it as it was too dark in the museum. There were torches nearby that they could lid with the Sorcerer's Ring, but they were out the moment they were lid. On the spot of the torch they could feel a strong wind. The wind was coming from some point on the wall. For now the group decided to let this be, keeping in mind that this was probably part of a puzzle, but until they would figure out the purpose they left the slabs with writing on it be. There was more traps to be avoided in the dungeon. This dungeon was truly life threatening on itself. The monsters were scary as well. Skeletons with swords whose bones needed to be crashed for it to stop moving, green spheres that were floating in the air that would launch wind spells at the group, half human, half bird like creature that unleashed wind attacks, Stone Gargoyles that could fly and carried spears around which had to be defeated by magic unless they wanted to destroy their own weapons, giant spiders which could turn you to stone and weird stone things that they just took out with magic from a distance. Nobody liked this dungeon. The group found a device that could change the Sorcerer's Ring. They activated the device.

"Hmm? The Sorcerer's Ring is acting weird." Lloyd said as he was testing the Sorcerer's Ring out.

"I guess it makes wind." Genis explained.

"I wonder what you use it for?" Colette asked out loud. With that the group proceeded into another room. In this room there were five pinwheels which all had a different colour. At the end of the room there was a huge stone door which couldn't be opened.

"I guess we can make the pinwheels turn with the Sorcerer's Ring." Dean said. Lloyd then let the pinwheels turn in an random order, but nothing happened. "Mmm… That's weird. Maybe we should let the pinwheels turn in a certain order?"

"How do we know which order?" Genis asked.

"Maybe those texts on the walls could help us?" Dean answered. "They seemed to be part of the puzzle of this dungeon."

"We can't read them though and those torches are blown out the whole time." Genis said.

"Mmm… I saw some holes in the ground and also some blocks. Maybe if we push those blocks in the holes the wind will stop. Then we will need to decipher the writings on the walls to unravel the sequence in which we will make the pinwheels move." Raine then said. "It sounds like a plan. Let's go."

"Can't we just try different combinations until the door opens?" Lloyd suggested irritated. He didn't like this dungeon at all.

"That would take too much time." Kratos responded.

"And the whole stopping the wind and deciphering the texts wouldn't?" Lloyd responded.

"Well, you can stay behind and try all kinds of random combinations. We're going to solve the puzzle." Genis said in response.

"Let's go guys." Dean said, wanting to solve the puzzle.

"Wait up!" Lloyd said as he noticed the others were really leaving. As Raine had said they first had to push the blocks in the ground. That stopped the wind coming from the walls. They had the go all around the museum doing this, dodging the lethal traps. After that they read the texts. Some were historical information. The rest however…

'The world is a giant. The ruby left hand is the throne of gods. The emerald right hand is the power of gods. The pearl white left leg is the calm earth. The topaz right leg is the rich earth. And its lapis lazuli body is the blue wind princess.'

'That which the blue wind princess protects. Heads from the throne of gods and across the rich earth, stands upon the calm earth and gazes up at the power of gods.'

'That which is offered to the throne of gods, from the power of gods, makes the rich earth as the calm earth and arrives at the blue wind princess. This be as if traveling the giant's body in the manner of a clock's hand.'

'The holy seal that extols the king, flows from the throne of the gods to the rich earth, travels from the power of gods to the calm earth and when the blue wind princes is born in the centre of the world, the holy seal shall also be complete.'

"I don't get it…" Lloyd said after reading the texts.

"Me neither…" Colette admitted as well.

"Professor, you took notes right?" Dean asked and Raine nodded. "Let me see… Okay. So the part about the world is a giant… The ruby left hand and the throne of gods are synonyms. If somewhere in another text the throne of gods is mentioned, it means that we should do something with the rube left hand. The ruby left hand is probably the red pinwheel in the room with the five pinwheels. This is probably the case with the rest as well."

"I see. Good thinking Dean." Raine answered.

"But there are three texts that reveals these kinds of words. Which one will open up the stone door?" Genis asked.

"Probably the one that mentions the holy seal. I think the seal represents the closed stone door. What the other two do… I don't know. We could try, but it could also be a trap." Dean said.

"I don't really followed what you guys were talking about, but now we know the order of the pinwheels right?" Asked Lloyd. The rest of the group except for Colette sighed.

"Yes, we know the order." Genis answered.

"Alright, let's go then." Lloyd wanted to run away again, but then remembered what happened last time and started walking again.

"Is raised by a dwarf causing this?" Dean asked for fun.

"Lloyd is just Lloyd, let's leave it at that." Genis answered.

So the group headed for the room with all the pinwheels again.

"Okay Lloyd, flip the pinwheels as I tell you." The professor said. "First the red one, now the yellow one, then the white one, the green one and finally the blue one." Lloyd did as the professor instructed and the stone door opened.

"Okay. We guessed right. Let's assume the rest of the combinations are traps and head up the stairs. The seal is probably up there." Raine said.

"Are we all ready?" Dean asked and he looked around. The group seemed ready. "Then let's go." As they had guessed the seal was in the next room. They were now on top of the building it seems.

"We're finally at the altar… I'm sick of dungeons." Lloyd said as they arrived.

"…You have no patience." Kratos answered. The walked towards the altar.

"Wait. I sense… incredible mana." Genis said. Dean felt it too. A powerful monster would appear any time now.

"Okay. We all know what to do. We've been here before many times. Let's defeat this monster!" Dean said to encourage the group. The monster had a light blue and dark blue body. It was a bird like monster. It had yellow with green wings, a sharp beak and sharp claws at its feet. It could do powerful wind magic. It was floating in the air by the use of magic. Kratos attacked it at the front, Lloyd and Dean at the sides. Colette, Genis and Raine were preparing their magic. With the monster pinned down with three warriors attacking it, it didn't stand a chance.

"Okay guys, we're ready to fire our magic at it!" Genis shouted to the close range warriors. They jumped back as the three magicians unleashed their magic on the monsters. It got hit really hard, but it still wasn't defeated after that. Dean unleashed a Lightning spell to do it some more damage, but it didn't do much. The monster suddenly leapt forward and Kratos was bashed away.

"Lloyd, let's do it!" Dean shouted to Lloyd. The two us them got into position. "Cross Trust!" Both of them unleashed a Sonic Trust at the same time, attacking in a cross and finishing off the monster. Raine was already healing Kratos, but it seemed he was alright. As everybody put away their weapons the voice of Remiel could be heard.

"Chosen of Regeneration… You have done well in reaching this far. Now, offer your prayers at the altar."

"Yes!" Colette replied and approached the seal. "Oh Goddess Martel, great protector and nurturer of the earth, grant me thy strength." Colette prayed. Colette revealed her wings and flies up to midair. A light from the sky came down on the place of the seal and the angel Remiel appeared at the scene.

"This is the third seal. You have done well reaching this far, Chosen One… Colette." The angel said with his commanding voice. The words were gentle, but the tone of the angel was commanding.

"Thank you." Colette replied.

"Receive this blessing, the gift of angelic power from Cruxis."

"Y-yes, Father. Thank you." A light from the sky landed on Colette as she received more angelic powers.

"The next seal lies far northwest, in a place that gazes upon the centre of the world. Offer your prayers at the altar in that distant land."

"I shall do as you say. …Lord Remiel." Colette sounded unsure the whole time she was talking to the angel Remiel. She was also unsure how to call him. Her father or Lord Remiel. She seemed to do both.

"I will be waiting for you at the next seal, Colette… my daughter." Remiel flew up again and disappeared into the heavens again. "The end of your journey is close. Hurry and become a true angel. Do not disappoint me…" The voice of Remiel resonated once more. With that the angel was gone again. Colette descended to the floor and put her angel wings away.

"A true angel…" Colette said softly. Dean could hear a hint of fear in her voice.

"What is it?" Lloyd asked.

"Ah… nothing. I was just thinking when I become a true angel, it'll be amazing." Colette lied. Dean could clearly see that the blond girl was lying, but the rest of the group didn't notice. Dean knew what the angel transformation did to her. He wondered until when that the others would notice as well. What part of her humanity would she lose now?

"I wonder how many seals there are?" Genis asked.

"That, we don't know…" Raine said.

"I hope not to many…" Dean muttered.

"At any rate, all we can do is keep going." Kratos said.

The group descended the stairs, avoided the traps and went towards the exit. Nearby the exit they suddenly heard a female voice.

"Stop!" A young woman jumped down from somewhere. She had black hair tied in a ponytail with a pink ribbon. She seemed to wear a black bodysuit with over it light purple leg protectors, a vest and arm protectors. Her bra was visible though. Around her waist there was big pink cloth which ended in a huge ribbon at her back. The clothes looked like something that didn't belong in this world. She was holding cards in her hands. Kratos had told Dean that those cards were enchanted and could do some serious damage. Her eyes were cold and hard, like an assassin.

"That voice…" Lloyd said.

"Oh, no…" Genis said as he realised whose the voice belonged.

"This day has finally come. This ancient ruin shall be your graveyard…" The assassin threatened. Colette was afraid of the woman and she approached her.

"Oh, you're here, too!" Colette just said happily.

"S…stay back! Don't move! Don't touch anything!" The assassin said, apparently afraid of Colette.

"Now that we've finally become friends, why do we have to fight?" the blond girl asked the assassin.

"Since when are we?" The young woman asked out loud and coughed to clear her voice. "I have no intention of befriending you! Prepare yourselves!" She threw one of her cards on the ground which summoned a creature. The creature were hovering in the air. It didn't have legs, just blue torn rags of clothing it seemed. It had the head of a bird, long arms with sharp claws. On the back was a card with a wheel with all kinds of signs on it. At the back of the wheel there was a weird looking red mask.

"Colette, get to the back!" Dean shouted. "Lloyd, Kratos, take on the assassin. Make sure she doesn't get close to Colette. Genis, take on that guardian with me. Focus on the card on the back, I think that's its weakness. Professor, assist Lloyd and Kratos and heal everybody. Colette, stay in the back and help us with your angelic powers." Dean shouted orders to everyone as the assassin and the guardian monster were getting closer. Dean faced the guardian monster. The guardian's attacks were fast and Dean had trouble evading them.

"Dean! That guardian is of the element lightning, your lightning attacks won't have any effect on it." Raine shouted towards Dean as she had analysed the monster with her magic lens. Dean didn't have any time to respond. He got the message. He now focused on the guardian. He could hear words of pain coming from Lloyd. The assassin was no pushover, that was for sure. These two opponents were much tougher than the monster of the seal. Dean sliced off one of the arms of the guardian with one of his attacks, but the arm just grew back on from nowhere. The guardian now was pushing him back. There was still no magic assistance from Genis. It seemed the elf boy had troubles of his own. Dean had no choice. He wasn't going to win like this. He had to take a risk. He was already worn out from the rest of the day, with avoiding the traps, solving the puzzle of the dungeon, fighting the monsters and defeating the monster of the seal. He had said to the professor that he wouldn't use this technique anymore, but this monster couldn't be defeated any other way. He fused his body with the element of wind and put a basic barrier support spell on him to protect his body from himself, from what he was about to do.

"Holy Song!" Colette shouted from a distance. A gentle pink light flowed through the area and faded away. Dean could feel that this magic made him stronger. With this enchantment and the wind magic he had fused unto his body he suddenly was much faster and stronger. He now easily dodged the attacks of the guardian, circled it around so it faced its back. He slashed the wheel away to reveal the card that was on its back. Dean jumped up and unleashed several attacks on the card. The guardian screamed in pain and faded away as the card turned to pieces of paper. Dean stopped the flow of magic to his body. The barrier magic stayed for a while, as it was a temporary spell that cost only a small portion mana. Once cast the barrier spell would increase the defence for a small period of time on the one the spell was used on. The professor had taught Dean this spell. It was also the spell Dean was basing his new spells on he was busy creating. Dean faced the rest of the group. Kratos and Lloyd were pushing the assassin to the back. She jumped back.

"Argh! Why… Why can't I win?" the young woman asked out loud.

"Goodness and love will always win!" Genis said.

"Genis, please don't bring up that stupid Dwarven Vow!" Lloyd said to his best friend. Dwarven Vows were some kind of rules that the dwarf Dirk lived by. In Dean's eyes those rules were common sense, but some of the vows were kind of cheesy. Like this one.

"Goodness?! What do you mean, goodness?! If you're good, I'm good as well!"

"Not you, too! Everyone, stop saying corny things!" Lloyd said somehow embarrassed by the turn of events.

"What do you know?! When you regenerate the world, my country will be destroyed! I won't let that happen… I swear!" The assassin said. Now that was a strange thing to say.

"Wait. What are you talking about? If I regenerate the world, everyone will be saved… right?" Colette asked the question that was everybody's lips.

"This world will be saved!" The assassin said and ran away.

"Stop! Who are you?! So you're no alone?!"

"What did she mean this world? Is Sylvarant then not the only world? What did she mean?" Dean now asked out loud.

"That girl… is she…" Kratos then said.

"Do you know her?" Genis asked the mercenary.

"…No. Let's get out of here. We didn't do her much damage, she might come back at us." Kratos said and walked away. Dean didn't believe the purple warrior. He was hiding something. He had finally said something that revealed he knew more than he let out. The group followed Kratos. Outside Colette collapsed again, but Lloyd caught her.

"Colette!" the boy in red said.

"It's the Angel Toxicosis again. Let's hurry and let her rest." Raine said.

"Are you okay?" Lloyd asked. The Chosen sighed.

"I'm sorry to trouble everybody again…" Colette started to apologise again.

"Don't worry about that, but" Lloyd somehow tripped while holding Colette and fell to the ground. "Ow…" The boy let out.

"What are you doing Lloyd?" Genis shouted angrily at Lloyd. "Are you okay Colette." The girl seemed puzzled for a while.

"What's wrong Colette?" Dean asked the girl. The effect of the angel transformation was already taking place and Colette had noticed it.

"What's wrong? Did it hurt? did you hurt yourself?" Genis asked worried about the girl.

"No. I'm fine. Hehe…" There was a fake giggle again. "I just blanked out for a moment." Lloyd got up again and looked both confused and worried. The group set up camp once again. When nobody was near Dean approached Colette.

"Colette…" Dean whispered to the blond Chosen. The girl got closer to Dean. "The effect of the third seal. What is it? You've already noticed, haven't you?" The girl looked down and then looked Dean in the eyes. She nodded.

"I don't feel… Pain…" The girl whispered back. Dean grabbed the hand of the girl. "No, it's not only that… I can't feel your hand right now."

"What? What do you mean you can't feel my hand?"

"I see that you're holding my hand, but I can't feel you toughing me. Touch, warmth, cold, pain… Those senses are gone." Dean looked in the girl eyes. She was telling the truth.

"That's… horrible. To lose your senses of touch, warmth and cold. Pain you can miss, but those things. You will never feel a touch anymore, no more hugs…" Dean said to her. "No more kisses from your future boyfriend." He whispered to himself. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes, but he pushed them away.

"Dean… It's okay… It's part of the angel transformation." Colette just said back.

"It's not okay Colette, but we can't stop, can we?" Dean asked the girl. She didn't respond. There was no other way. Colette would continue to suffer and would continue to lose something of herself, something that means to be human, lose one of her senses.

"It's not all bad Dean. My eyes have gotten better and I can hear much better now. My spell helped you against that guardian today, didn't it?"

"Yeah, you're right. But if this continues… What will be left of you when this journey is over?"

"Dean?! Can you help with gathering wood for the fire?" Raine asked from afar.

"Yes, I'll be right there." Dean shouted back. "I'm here for you Colette, don't you forget that." Dean said to the blond girl. He then left for looking for firewood. He hadn't noticed that the other hand of the girl was still bleeding. Dean already noticed that we wasn't getting much sleep. He offered to be the first night watch. The rest didn't mind. Lloyd said that he wanted to be on the night watch as well. This was the first time Lloyd had offered that. Normally he would go to sleep as one of the first. It was because he had to wake up early for practice every day. He was probably worried about Colette, but everybody was worried about her. Genis cooked dinner that night. It wasn't much, because they needed the provisions for the way back.

"What that assassin said still bothers me." Raine said loud. This was her way of saying she wanted to start a conversation about it.

"You mean that she said that this world would be saved. I wonder what that was about as well…" Dean said. The professor had clearly been thinking about other things than he had.

"Yes… She also wears strange clothes. It seems like…" The professor didn't finish her sentence.

"Yes… It seems like she's from another world." Dean finished the sentence.

"You think so too Dean?" The professor asked surprised.

"The clothes that she wears. Those are of a quality and in a form I've never seen before. The clothes of our group is a bit out of the ordinary if you look at the other people, but in each village and town you see different clothes. Our clothes are different from the other villages and town in the area yes, but her clothes were unique. That's one point. She said that after the world regeneration only this world will be saved, so she's basically telling us she's not from this world. That's point two. For the last point I would like to point out her way of fighting. I haven't even heard of fighting with cards and summoning monsters, because that is what she did. Fighting with weapons, whether they be swords, shields, axes, spears, rods, kendama's, chakrams or something else I can believe, but fighting with cards. Summoning monsters… That is not something of this world."

"That is some proof that indicates that she's not of this world…" The professor replied.

"But that's all we have indeed. We will have to ask her the next time we meet. If she's not willing to talk, then that's the end."

"You don't want to force the information out of her?"

"After what I've been through the thought of torture makes me sick. I'd rather give somehow a quick painless death than torture them."

"I'm sorry, I hadn't thought of that."

"It's okay. I really want to know as well Professor, but there are some things I just won't do."

"Well, I'm going to bed. Good luck with the guard."

"Thanks. Good night Professor. I'll be watching over all of you." Dean prepared for another long night. Lloyd was talking with Colette and the rest was getting ready for sleep. After a few minutes Lloyd walked towards Dean.

"Hey Dean, can you make some tea for me and Colette? I heard from her she has trouble sleeping, so maybe some tea will help." Lloyd said.

"Sure. I think I have the right herbs for some nice tea. Shall I make you some tea that will help you stay awake?" Dean asked back. The boy in red was constantly looking at Colette and didn't seem to pay any attention to the question of Dean.

"Yeah. Sure." Lloyd reacted absentminded. Dean asked Lloyd to gather some water in a pan, so he could boil it. Then he picked the right herbs he would need for making the tea. He would make tea for himself, Lloyd and Colette. He picked one of his favourite teas that would help Lloyd and him stay awake that night. Lloyd was acting strange, but he seemed concerned. Colette was out of sight. She was probably waiting for Lloyd somewhere. Brewing the tea took a bit and after it was done Dean divided the tea in three separate cups. He handed two of the cups to Lloyd, who went to the place where Colette was after saying thanks. Dean knew it wasn't nice, but curiosity took over him and he decided to eardrop on Lloyd and Colette. Stalking Lloyd without letting him know that Dean was following him wasn't a big deal. The boy wasn't really on guard most of the time and because of his concern his guard was fully dropped.

"What is it Lloyd?" Colette asked the boy in red. Dean couldn't see the two of them, but he could hear them. He faced the camp where the others were sleeping so he could keep guard as well.

"I thought it'd be nice for us to talk just by ourselves." Lloyd answered.

"Sure."

"Here, it's hot tea." Lloyd gave the cup to Colette. The blond girl put her arms on the hot cup of tea. Normally, it would burn someone, but she wasn't feeling a thing. Lloyd noticed this too.

"Thanks." The Chosen answered.

"Hot, isn't it?" Lloyd asked.

"Yeah. Really hot."

"It's actually iced coffee." Lloyd then said.

"What?" Colette answered in confusion.

"I had Genis make it cold. He was still awake." Lloyd answered.

"Oh, hehe, yeah, of course it's cold." Colette decided to go along with the words of Lloyd.

"I lied. It's actually hot." Lloyd confessed to the blond girl. Colette dropped the cup of tea in surprise. She realised that Lloyd found out. "I knew it. How long have you been like this?! You can't feel anything at all, can you?" Lloyd kept pushing Colette to confess.

"That's not true…" Colette didn't want to confess. Lloyd got angry at her.

"You're lying! When you fell earlier, you already couldn't feel anything, could you?!"

"W…well, uh…but…uh…" Colette didn't know how to react anymore. She was still faking that everything was alright.

"You were bleeding like crazy, but you didn't even flinch when I squeezed your hand!" Lloyd kept going on. Colette gave a big sigh.

"I guess the secret's out." Was all she said.

"You haven't been eating lately either."

"I eat! Hehe…" Colette tried to force a smile on her face, but every stranger could see right through that smile.

"Barely. You even started eating things you don't like. And that's not all. Have you been sleeping?"

"Of course. Hehe… see. My eyes aren't red or anything." Colette did her fake giggle again.

"Stop lying to me! You always do that fake giggle when you lie."

"Th…that's not true…" Dean couldn't stand the bickering anymore. He decided to intervene before Lloyd got too mad and Colette too desperate, not knowing how to react or what to say.

"That's enough you two!" Dean said with a loud voice and walked towards Lloyd and Colette so that they could see him.

"What? Dean? You were listening?" Lloyd asked.

"Sorry for betraying your trust, but yes." Dean answered Lloyd. He then looked at Colette and said with a gentle voice. "Come on Colette. Just say it to him already. He already knows." The girl sighed again.

"Alright. It's true Lloyd. I can't feel anything anymore." Colette finally confessed.

"…What's happening to you?" Was all Lloyd asked the girl.

"I don't know." Colette said. She then looked Lloyd in the eye. "I don't know, but things first got strange when I released the Fire Seal. I suddenly didn't want to eat anything anymore. Even when I did, it didn't have any taste."

"No taste?" Lloyd asked in wonder.

"I can't hold anything down when I force myself… so, I haven't been eating. I never get hungry." The blond girl continued talking.

"That's… That's…" Lloyd stammered.

"Then when I released the next seal, I stopped getting sleepy. I close my eyes, but I just can't sleep. I haven't slept at all since then. Dean kept me company during the times he was on guard duty, but the rest of the nights were really lonely. Then with this seal, I stopped feeling anything."

"Why didn't you say anything?!" Lloyd almost shouted, both angry and concerned. "And you Dean, you already knew. Don't you guys trust me?"

"It's not like that Lloyd." Dean answered in a calm voice. "I found out yes and I've been trying to support Colette in secret ever since, but when I found out Colette made me promise not to tell anyone else. She didn't want to trouble anyone with her suffering."

"Besides, I think this is what it means to become an angel. So I shouldn't let it get to me." Colette added.

"This is what it means to become an angel? Not eating anymore, not sleeping anymore, not feeling anything anymore?!"

"But my eyes have actually gotten better. I can see really far away now. And my hearing too. I can hear even the faintest sounds really well. I can hear them so well that… it's kind of painful sometimes." Dean hadn't heard this before. There were some improvements when becoming an angel, but they didn't add up against the downsides of the transformation. Dean tried to be calm and cool during this whole time, but inside he was worried sick about Colette. Lloyd embraced Colette in order to comfort her. This stung in Dean's heart for a bit.

"I'm sorry… I didn't realise what was going on at all. I'm sorry." Lloyd apologised. Tears were flowing down his face. Learning this really hurt him and made him as worried about Colette as Dean did.

"Please don't tell the others." Colette pleaded.

"Why?! Dean knows, I know. What difference does it make if the rest knows?"

"I just don't know anyone to worry. If everybody knew, would they be able to play with me without worrying? Would Alice be able to do that if she knew or Genis. Even if there is so much suffering around us, I want us to enjoy it to the fullest." Lloyd didn't know what to say anymore. Dean was silent too. He already promised the girl he would keep silent. It would bother Colette now that Lloyd knew as well, but now Lloyd and Dean could support Colette together. Colette was their childhood friend after all. "I'm sorry, Lloyd. Even though you're crying for me and I'm happy. So happy that I want to cry… but I can't anymore. I'm sorry…" Lloyd embraced Colette a bit tighter. Dean decided to leave the two of them alone and headed back to the camp. He left sight of the camp for some time now, but luckily there was no monsters about where he returned. After a few minutes Colette and Lloyd returned. Lloyd was looking down and Colette was now the one who was looking concerned at Lloyd. Lloyd sat down at the fire. Dean saw that they almost didn't have any more wood, so he got up to gather it.

"Dean…" Lloyd said to him. Dean stopped.

"I'm sorry for not telling you Lloyd, but I promised Colette." Dean said before Lloyd could continue.

"I know… You don't break your promises. You never did. Thanks for looking out for Colette."

"It's what you would have done. Let's support her together now." Dean looked at Lloyd and handed out his hand. Lloyd shook his hand to follow up with Dean's determination.

"Yeah. Let's do our best."

"We will. Now I will gather some wood. Keep Colette company will you?" After gathering the wood the three childhood friends talked about the time they spent in the village and brought up good memories. They made sure to talk softly so they wouldn't wake anyone up. Time flew by while they were talking. There were no monsters that ambushed them that night. They woke up Kratos and Raine when it was time for them to take over the night's guard. Colette made sure to pretend to sleep before the two adults were woken up. Dean and Lloyd fell immediately to sleep. It was hard for both of them to wake up when Kratos woke them up for morning practice.

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><p><strong>And that's how Lloyd found out the secret Colette had been keeping from everyone, except for OC Dean of course. The Seal of Wind is down and Colette can't feel anything any more. That has to be a nightmare. Although... I really love food and if food had no taste at all anymore, I would have lost an important part of my life. <strong>

**Please look forward to the next chapter!**


	8. The Desians Strike Again

**The Desians will come back again in this chapter. They will make sure a lot of people will suffer again. Sheena will join the party this chapter as well! Look forward to it.**

**Disclaimer: I really, really, really don't own Tales of Symphonia!**

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><p>The Chosen's group was now heading towards Luin. Days of travelling filled the days again. After the night where Lloyd had found Colette's secret as well it had been a bit better for Colette. Now both Lloyd and Dean could help her with her sleepless nights. They kept an eye on her especially after battling monsters, checking she wasn't hurt since she couldn't feel pain anymore. They had to stop at the House of Salvation and at Asgard to stock on supplies again. In Asgard Genis and Colette played with Alice. Dean and Lloyd helped with gathering the supplies. The group stayed only one night in Asgard. Alice was sad again when they left. She thought that they had come back to stay for a much longer time. Although it is a long journey, the Journey of Salvation is an important journey. Only if the group really needed the rest they would stay longer than one night at a town or village. After saying goodbye the group left for Luin. In Luin they would stock up on supplies and go to the Tower of Mana which was probably the Fourth Seal. It was only a day travelling from Luin to the Tower of Mana. It was really nice that a Seal was close to a town.<p>

"I must say Lloyd, you have been acting more like an adult lately." The professor remarked a little longer after the group had left Asgard.

"Are you sure Raine? I still see him grinning like an idiot every time he visits a weapon's shop." Genis said as a joke. The elf boy wanted to relax and play a bit more in the town of Asgard.

"Shut it Genis!" Lloyd retorted. It was his usual response every time Genis was teasing him.

"Why do you say so Professor?" Dean asked the elf woman.

"Well, he doesn't complain as much anymore, he helps much more with the little tasks and instead of playing with the others he even helped with gathering the supplies in town. I'm quite surprised. I'm moved to see my student finally growing up." It was easy to say that the professor was exaggerating, but the compliments she was giving were genuine.

"Yeah, he's finally growing up." Genis said. Lloyd decided to ignore his friend.

"Well, I actually agree with you there." Kratos said. "Lloyd is really doing his best during morning practice and it's true he doesn't complain so much anymore."

"Lloyd, you're amazing!" Colette said.

"Well, I am doing my best." Lloyd said being embarrassed with all the sudden compliments.

"Well, now that Lloyd has grown up we can treat him like an adult. We're counting on you Lloyd." Dean said as a joke. "Now you can study those hard to read books of the Professor and discuss philosophy with Kratos and Raine."

"Ew… I'll pass on that." Lloyd said.

"What's wrong with my books?" Raine asked the boy, a bit angry now.

"Nothing Professor. They're just not my thing."

"If he would only turn in his homework on time, then it would be perfect." Genis said again.

"We have more homework?" Lloyd asked in panic. There was a silence. Lloyd didn't get that most of them were making fun of him by now. Nobody said anything for a while and Dean had trouble not to burst into laughing.

"Let's just say Lloyd not yet an adult yet." Kratos concluded. Everyone agreed with that. For the rest of the day Genis and Dean kept teasing Lloyd, making the boy in red embarrassed all the time. It was really hard to stop as it was really funny to see Lloyd clueless and flustered the whole time. The days after that the mood in the group stayed cheerful and the area was getting quite peaceful. When the group arrived at Luin they were in a good mood. The city of Luin was a nice one. It wasn't really a city, but more of a village. The village is called Luin, the city of Hope. The name itself had a nice ring to it. The people of the village were really nice. With all the fighting the weapons of the group needed some polishing. Lloyd offered to take all the weapons and have them polished at the weapon's shop of Luin. He probably said that so he could look at some more weapons. The rest of the group had no problem with this. They already booked some rooms at the inn as it seemed that a lot of travellers were staying in this village. As Kratos and Raine gathered the supplies the rest of the group had some time to relax. They began to explore the village. At the other exit of the village which headed towards the west Genis, Colette and Dean heard some kids playing. As they approached the area they saw Sheena, the assassin, who was surrounded by kids. In this area there was a lovely fountain.

"Okay, okay, fine. Then I'll be it this time." Sheena said to the kids.

"Hehe, yay! Everybody hide!" One of the children said as everyone ran around to look for a good place to hide. The game they were playing was hide-and-seek of course.

"Yo, what's up?" Lloyd asked as he approached Genis, Colette and Dean from behind.

"It seems that Sheena is playing hide-and-seek with the kids from this town. It looks really fun!" Colette explained.

"Wh…What are you looking at?!" Sheena then said to the group. She looked embarrassed.

"You're actually pretty nice." Lloid said then.

"Wh…what are you saying?!" The woman responded. The situation had really caught her off guard.

"Well, I've never seen an assassin playing hide-and-seek with children in a friendly town." Dean said with a smile on a face. He was enjoying the embarrassment of this woman, even though they had fought her earlier at the Balacruf Museum. "If you can do this kind of thing, you can't be a bad person."

"Don't think saying stuff like this is going to change anything!" The assassin seemed to be over her embarrassment and had gotten back that cold look in her eyes which fitted an assassin. "You're still my enemy!" She ran away. Dean felt sorry. She was just playing with the children.

"Aw… I wanted to play hide-and-seek with her…" Colette said after she had left.

"I don't know about that Colette." Genis said. "She is still after your life. If you get caught by her it won't end nice." The elf boy tried to warn the blond girl.

"Oh, then I'll be the seeker and she can hide. Then there would be no problem." The rest of the group sighed. As usual, Colette seemed to miss the point of the conversation. After exploring the rest of town everybody gathered at the inn. They had to sleep in pairs since that the rest of the rooms were booked.

"We've learned that the Tower of Mana is indeed close to Luin." Raine explained.

"We will stay here for the night. We will leave for the Tower of Mana early in the morning." Kratos then said. "Do what you will until then."

"Maybe we can find those kids we saw earlier and play hide-and-seek with them." Dean proposed to the group.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea." Lloyd responded. "Let's do that!" Everyone agreed. It didn't take long for them to find the kids. They had been looking for someone else to play since that Sheena had left so suddenly. Dean probably thought that she was still in the area, but that she didn't want to show herself just yet. He decided to stay close to Colette just to be sure.

"Okay then mister, you're it the first time." A girl said to Dean.

"What? Me?" Dean asked in wonder.

"Yep, you're it!" Colette said cheerfully. Well, that plan didn't work anymore… Dean just hoped that Sheena wouldn't find Colette before he would.

"Alright then… But you won't win!" Dean challenged everyone. He closed his eyes and counted to ten. "Ten! Here I come!" He had to find everyone without them be able to put their hand on the edge of the fountain. If he found them all, he would win. If someone was found, they lost. If someone would be able to put their hand on the fountain without Dean noticing the that person would win. Sounded more simple than it was. Dean was fast and managed to find Colette, Genis and Lloyd really easy. The rest of the children was another story though. They were really good in hiding. After a time Dean finally managed to find the last one of them. No one had been able to put his or her hand on the fountain without him noticing. He had always been good in these kind of games and he hadn't lost his touch. The next one who was 'it' was the one who was found first. Which was obviously Lloyd, since he was so easy to spot with his red clothing. They spend their time playing with the kids of town until it was time for dinner. Everybody had fun and it was really nice to see that Colette was having fun. Her mind wasn't on the Journey of Regeneration for a moment now. This brought peace to the mind of Dean. Everybody was really tired from playing all day and they played a card game that evening and went to bed early. After Lloyd fell asleep Dean snuck out of bed. He had told Colette that he would meet her outside after everybody was asleep. Colette wasn't there just yet when Dean was outside the inn. He decided to practise the new wind and lightning barriers he had invented. The barriers themselves he could manage now. The problem lay that he would need to summon these barriers in less than a second. This was the real struggle of his plan. Dean had thought that he could gather the necessary mana while fighting, but it was really hard to gather mana and concentrate on the battle. His mind needed process two things at the same time. It was hard to do such a thing and he needed to do it at the moments his life depended on it. The time between gathering the mana and to do the spells had decreased lately, but it wasn't enough yet. Dean now practised fighting with his sword and gathering the mana necessary for the barriers.

"It's always nice to see you practise." A familiar voice could be heard from behind Dean. He had been focused so much on his training that he hadn't heard Colette coming.

"Is it?" Dean asked as he put his sword away. He unleashed a simple magic spell in order to release the mana he had gathered. It wasn't good for the body to hold an extra amount of mana for too long.

"Yes, it's really nice to see. You always seem to be practicing one thing or the other lately." A look of concern was seen on the look of the face of the blond girl.

"Practice make perfect." Dean shrugged his shoulders as it was no deal.

"You wanted to talk?"

"Just wanted to ask how you are doing lately. A lot has been happening lately and I wanted to know if you're okay."

"Well… You know what's going on. I'm okay for the rest." Dean was looking in the eyes of Colette the whole time she said those sentences. He couldn't sense no lie there. A sense of relief went through his body.

"That's good to hear. Playing with those kids today was really fun. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun."

"Yeah, me too!" Colette smiled happily for a while, but then sadness filled her face.

"What's wrong?" Dean asked noticing the difference.

"It's nothing… It's just… Back in the village we used to play all the time. Every day was so much fun. I sometimes long back to those days." A longing for the 'peaceful' past was voiced there.

"I can understand what you're saying. I sometimes wish that would be possible as well, but the more I think about it, the more of it seems impossible. Even if it's possible for us to return to Iselia, it won't be the same. I've changed during this journey. I first want to release the world of the Desians. Then I want to search for a way to change the world so that no more Chosens are necessary. I want to look for a way to change this system… I don't want anyone to go through the things you are going through Colette."

"Yeah…" There was a long silence after that. "Dean, there is one last time I want to tell you…" Colette almost whispered to me. The door of the inn opened at the moment and Kratos came outside.

"Mmm?" He was surprised. "What are you two doing still up? Hurry up and go to sleep." Not wanting to disobey him we went back inside.

"Was there something you wanted to say to me?" Dean asked Colette.

"It's nothing. I'll let you know some other time." Dean didn't think much of it and they headed to their rooms.

"Good luck with getting through the night. Maybe you can watch through the windows as we practise in the morning."

"Thanks. Good night Dean." Dean changed into his pyjamas and fell asleep quite easily. He had a really strange dream that night, but fortunately it didn't involve any pain.

The next morning during training Lloyd and Dean were sparring against Kratos. It was two against one, but Kratos was still the one who had the upper hand. The teamwork between Dean and Lloyd was getting better though. The combinations like Cross Trust and Thunder Tiger Blade were running much more smooth now. Dean noticed that Kratos wasn't holding back so much anymore. He was finally showing them more of his true strength bit by bit. Dean was trying to gather mana while he was fighting now. What better time was to test his new way of fighting than at training. His swordsmanship was a bit less now, but he was busy with two things at the same time now. For a mage it was really hard to gather mana and to prepare for a spell. Since that the new barrier spells of Dean were simple he only had to gather the mana he needed for the spell. He could cast the spell the moment he had the right amount of mana. Still this was a hard thing to do. Most magicians had to stand still in order to gather mana and prepare for the spell. If Dean wanted to cast a spell like Spark Wave he had to do the same, but a simple spell like Barrier and Wind Blade he just needed to gather the mana. Casting the right spell after you had the right amount of mana was peanuts. Dean wanted to make it a second nature, an automatic thing, to gather mana while he was fighting. To make sure that gathering mana would become a second nature would take a lot of practice. Since that this was the first time it didn't go well. Because of this Dean was getting a beating. At one time during the sparring Lloyd had gotten disarmed by Kratos and Dean was fending for his own, barely holding his ground. How a guard could be this perfect was insane. 'Just who the hell was Kratos really?' was a thought that had crossed the mind of Dean many times, including this time. Kratos had parried away Dean's sword and Dean's guard was gone now. There came the finishing blow of Kratos towards Dean. At that moment Dean had finished gathering the right amount of mana he needed.

"Thunder Shield!" Dean yelled as he unleashed his spell. A sphere made out of lighting surrounded Dean and the sword of Kratos hit the shield, electrocuting him. Dean recovered and now had the chance to disarm Kratos. The warrior seemed to recover somehow and the clashing of swords continued. Lloyd had picked up his swords again and entered the fight as well. This time the two sides were equal to each other. It went on for minutes like this. Dean was trying to gather mana once again while fighting. It went really slow like this, but it worked. Dean and Lloyd attacked together and Kratos was pushed back by the force of their attacks. Then Kratos let out one of his deathly combination of artes.

"Demon Fang!" Kratos said as a shockwave hit Lloyd. "Lightning Blade!" Kratos trusted his sword towards Dean, who blocked the attack and then jumped back to avoid the bolt of lightning that fell from the sky a bit after that. "Hell Pyre!" Kratos jumped up in the sky, made a spin in the sky and then send a fireball from his sword towards Lloyd, who dodged the fireball but was pushed back by the explosion of the attack as it hit the ground. Kratos then ran towards Dean again. Lloyd was lying on the ground, knocked out. Kratos was intent on finishing the fight at that moment. "Sonic Trust!" Kratos trusted his sword forward with great force and speed.

"Wind Barrier!" Dean shouted as now a sphere of wind surrounded him. The wind was circling around him at a great speed. This made sure that the attack of Kratos was deflected towards the side were the wind was circling. "Wind Gale!" Dean shouted as he followed up his defensive arte with an offensive one. A shockwave of wind hit Kratos. "Lightning Blade!" Kratos just barely blocked the trust of the sword of Dean, but was hit by the bolt of lightning that followed the trust. Dean then took his chance and disarmed Kratos and then put his sword at the throat of the purple mercenary. Both Dean and Kratos were breathing heavily, the practice fight had exhausted them both. Dean put away his sword. It was the first time he had won against Kratos, but he had had the element of surprise with his new barriers.

"I see… That's why your skills with the sword seemed like they had decreased. You were gathering mana while you were fighting, weren't you?" Kratos asked Dean.

"Yes… You're… Right…" Dean was still really tired and breathing really hard. He had put all of his strength in that last attack.

"So that's your new way of fighting, isn't it?"

"Yes. It will still take a lot of practice, but I plan on learning how to gather mana while I'm fighting with a sword. While I won't be able to unleash the more advanced spells like that, I will be able to use Barrier and elemental barriers like the ones I used on you. Since that I barely wear any armour and that I depend on my speed during battle, I will use my magic to protect me."

"That is a good idea, but as you said you will need a lot of practice. Don't let this victory over me get over your head." Kratos used his harsh voice like he used most of the time when he gave Lloyd and me feedback.

"It won't. Trust me. This was more luck and the element of surprise than skill."

"Good. It is good you have found a way how to find." Dean thought he had imagined it, but he thought he had seen a smile on the face of Kratos. Kratos smiling… That would be impossible.

"Thank you Kratos, but isn't it time to heal Lloyd? He is still lying unconscious on the ground." Kratos noticed it as well. He used a healing spell on Lloyd and then woke up the boy in red.

"Damn it Kratos… You really went all out there on me." The boy said when he woke up.

"The enemy won't hold back on you." Kratos just replied.

"Yeah. I know. Dean and I will do better the next time. Right Dean?"

"Yeah Lloyd. Let's keep improving and finally settle our score with Kratos."

"I heard that you two. Practice is over. Let's prepare breakfast." Kratos said with his normal neutral voice. So was it that the practice of that day ended in a small victory for Dean. Kratos had said that they wanted to prepare breakfast, but the owner of the inn was already busy in the kitchen to prepare breakfast for his guests. The inn they were staying was kind of shabby, but the owner was really nice. Besides, sleeping on a bed always beat sleeping on the ground. Kratos went back outside, Lloyd decided to wake up Genis and Dean would wake up the rest, that would mean only the professor. Dean knocked on the door. Colette opened the door.

"What is it Dean?" the blond girl asked him.

"Can you wake up the Professor? Breakfast will be done soon." Dean said back.

"I will."

"Say Colette. Want to play a game of cards until breakfast is ready? It seems the owner of the inn will prepare breakfast." This brought a big smile on the face of the blond girl.

"Sure. I will be there in a minute. Don't start without me."

"We won't." Colette closed the door. She had already been dressed. Dean wondered if she had gotten the chance to look at them practise. They were practising a bit out of town so they wouldn't wake anyone up. Dean guessed she couldn't have seen much. Genis came down the stairs half-asleep. Lloyd was grinning again. He had probably played a prank on Genis. Genis was looking a bit annoyed, so that probably was the case. Dean had taken some cards from his bag in his room. Since that they had been playing several card games a lot more lately Dean had bought a playing card set in Asgard. They would play it mostly when they were staying at an inn, but sometimes Colette, Lloyd and Dean would play it to kill time if Dean and Lloyd were on the night's guard at the same time. Colette, Genis, Lloyd and Dean could only play cards for a short while, but it had been fun all the same. Dean put away his cards and then joined the others at breakfast. It was a normal breakfast of bread and jam, but it was good enough. The group ate their fill, grabbed their stuff and then set out towards the Tower of Mana. Dean wanted to go there, because he wanted the journey to end so that Colette wouldn't have to suffer anymore, but at the same time it meant that Colette would release another Seal and she would lose another part of herself. Dean began to curse the Seals and the whole Journey of Regeneration, but they couldn't stop. As part of his training Dean started to gather mana during other activities besides training, like trying to gather mana while he was having a conversation with somebody else. Raine and Genis asked what he was doing as they sensed him gathering mana, so he explained to them why he was doing it. He released the gathered mana most of the time by unleashing a spell on the monsters they encountered or by sending out a gust of wind in a random direction. The Tower of Mana was getting closer and closer during their travelling. When it was getting dark it would only take a few hours until they would reach it. They decided to set up camp early so they wouldn't be surprised by monsters attacking them. Dean and Genis practised their magic before they would sleep a bit more. Both Kratos and Raine were watching.

"Come on Genis. I'm sure we'll be able to do 'that' now, don't you think?" Dean asked the elf boy.

"What do you mean with 'that'?" Genis asked by, confused by the words Dean was using.

"Do you remember the Water Seal, what we were practising then?" Genis nodded. "Let's do that spell."

"Oh, 'that' spell. Okay. You're on!" Genis said excited. The both of them began to concentrate and gather their magic.

"Ready?" Dean asked after a while.

"Ready." Genis answered.

"Thunder Blade!" the both of them said with a loud voice as two enormous blades made out of lightning fell from the sky. Both of them hit the ground and let out a shockwave of electricity a bit after landing. Dean and Genis gave each other a high five as the spell succeeded.

"Impressive. Both of you couldn't pull off that spell at the Water Seal. You've improved quite a bit in the meanwhile." Raine complemented the two magic users. Both of them were grinning, proud that they finally succeeded.

"Um… Genis. I have a question." Dean said to the young elf boy.

"What is it Dean?"

"Can you teach me how to do fire magic? I want to try if I can learn magic that has a different element than wind and lightning. I've been able to learn some supportive spells, so I thought I would be able to learn some fire spells as well."

"Sure. We can always try. Raine can you help me teach Dean?"

"I don't mind helping, but why do you want to learn fire spells? Why not a different element?" The professor asked Dean.

"Well, I thought I could try to combine wind and fire magic in order to come up with some more powerful spells and maybe trying to learn how to learn a fire barrier isn't a bad idea." Dean answered. He had thought about it for some time. Since that the really advanced spells would take a lot of time to learn, he thought that learning spells from a different element wouldn't be a bad idea. He really wanted to learn how to combine different elements with each other, but he only knew two elements now. In order to combine elements one should know more elements.

"Well then Genis, try to teach Dean the spell Fire Ball. It is the most basic and the easiest magic spell there is." The Professor encouraged Genis. First unsure of himself Genis began teaching Dean. Most of the basic spells were kind of easy to learn. One should first gather enough mana for the spell, after that the user had to add an element to the spell and this was probably enough to make the spell work. Adding an element meant that you realised how the element worked. Fire for instance needs oxygen and some kind of fuel in order to come to life. That fuel can be wood, but magic users use mana as the fuel that is needed for the fuel for the fire. The last part of the spell is imagining how the spell works and reacts on things. Fire Ball is a basic spell where the magic user sends outs three fireballs towards a target. Imagining a fire ball isn't a hard thing. It is just a giant ball of fire. Anything that it touches gets burned. You could make the spell stronger by adding a bigger amount of mana to the spell, therefore sending out more fireballs or you could make the fireballs bigger. Bigger fireballs would mean slower moving fireballs, so it would become a spell that is easy to dodge. More fireballs would do more damage, but the spell fireball is still a very basic and weak spell. Gathering mana would take more time. It would be better to use a more advanced spell with the element of fire instead of making the basic spell stronger. The more advanced spells are so difficult, because a lot more mana is needed and also the imagination of the working of the spell is much more difficult and the most difficult part is letting that imagination of the spell come to life. Spell books help you with the imagination of the spell and helping you understand the element of the spell better and in detail the effect the spell will have if you use it on your enemies. In the end it would just be a matter of practising a lot.

"Fire Ball!" Dean shouted as he shot forward three balls of fire. Making the spell work wasn't hard. Making the fireballs move in the direction you wanted was the hardest part. Controlling this spell was harder than it seemed. Dean was so used to the elements of wind and lightning that he didn't need to think about the working and the effects of those elements anymore. Fire was a different story. The three fireballs hit the stone he wanted to hit.

"See. It isn't hard to do." Genis said to Dean.

"It still takes a lot of concentration. More than I thought it would." Dean responded.

"Just practise. By doing the spell a lot of times it helps you understand the spell better and also you get to realise how the spells works. After enough practice using the spell goes by itself. Learning how to do magic takes a lot of time."

"Still not everyone has the gift of using that kind of magic." The Professor interrupted. "I can use supportive, healing and light magic, but I can't use elemental magic like you two. I understand the elements of the spells and I can easily imagine the effect of the spells, but still I can't do the spell. One must be gifted with that kind of magic as well."

"So you need to have the potential to use the magic you want to use and also you have to work hard in order to make the spells work." Dean summarised the explanation.

"That's basically it. It sounds simple, but actually using the magic and making it work is a lot harder." The professor responded.

"Yes, I noticed. I'm going to practise this spell a bit more. I feel I don't have quite the hang of it yet." Dean did as he said. He practised the spell until he was satisfied with the result. He was proud that he had been able to learn this spell. He was afraid that he didn't have the potential to use fire spells, but that didn't seem the case now. After practice Dean was really tired and went to sleep. He didn't have the night's guard that night. He chatted a bit with Lloyd and Colette before going to bed and fell fast asleep only a few minutes after he woke up.

The next morning Dean, Lloyd and Kratos practised again. Practise swordsmanship, travelling, practise magic, eating and sleeping. It seemed the days only consisted of those things in the days lately in the eyes of Dean, but he didn't mind it. It was what he chose. He wanted to become stronger. That morning Lloyd and Dean practised using their combinations. Dean and Lloyd also sparred together. Dean gathered his magic yet again during the fighting. It went slow, but it worked. After practise they went back to camp and noticed that Genis and Colette were already busy with preparing breakfast. Genis said that he had had a bad dream and couldn't get to sleep anymore. Colette said that she had woken up by the noises that Genis was making while preparing breakfast and decided to help now that she was awake as well. Raine was reading a book as she waited for breakfast. The group had prohibited her from cooking. One day she wanted to make spicy sandwiches for everyone. The sandwiches were spicy, but way too spicy. Anything anyone ate or drank later that day had no taste at all, because the spiciness had burned away all the flavour it seemed that morning for the rest of the day. If Raine couldn't make a simple thing as sandwiches, then she just wasn't allowed to cook anymore. The group had voted for it and all agreed. Of course Raine couldn't vote when it came to that matter. Sometimes she was sulking a bit over it, since she still wanted to experiment with cooking. Dean just didn't want to die of food poisoning. After a delicious breakfast the group went towards the Tower of Mana. After two hours of travelling they arrived at the tower. Lloyd ran towards the front door excited, wanting to be the first one in the tower, but the door wouldn't open.

"Huh? That's weird." Lloyd said as he pulled and pushed the door, but it wouldn't open.

"What's wrong Lloyd? We don't have time for games. Open the door." The Professor responded.

"That's the problem. It won't budge. I think it's locked. It does have a keyhole."

"You mean we travelled all the way here just to find a locked door?" Genis said annoyed. "Now what are we going to do?"

"It seems we can't break in as well. It seems both the door and the windows are magically protected. Isn't this building a sacred building of the church?" Dean asked.

"That's right. The Tower of Mana is sacred for the followers of the Church of Martel." Colette answered.

"Then maybe the clerk at Luin has the key to the Tower of Mana. We'll have to go back to Luin then." Kratos said.

"Damn it." Lloyd said.

"Nothing to do about it. Let's go back." Dean said. Everyone turned their back on the Tower of Mana and the group went back to Luin. All of them were annoyed by this turn of events. Colette seemed to be cheerful though. Dean didn't blame her. The group was quiet while travelling for the rest of the day. Most of them went to sleep when they set up camp. Dean was practising the spell Fire Ball for a bit more. Genis didn't want to practise though. Kratos gave Dean some tips which came in handy. Dean was on the night's watch that night though. He played cards with Colette and chatted with about what they would do when they got back in Luin in a whispering voice. Dean wanted to wake up The Professor to take over the guard when he saw a red glow in the distance. It was coming from the direction from Luin.

"Professor, quickly wake up!" Dean said to the elf woman as he shook her.

"I'm awake Dean. Stop shaking me! What's the matter?" The Professor said annoyed, having been woken up in such a rough matter.

"Something is wrong. It looks like Luin is burning!" Dean said almost in panic.

"What?!" The Professor quickly looked at the red glow in the distance. "You're right Dean. Oh my!"

"What's all this noise?" Kratos said.

"Luin's in fire." Dean said. Slowly the rest of the group awoke as well. They all looked in horror as they saw the fire that consumed Luin grew bigger and bigger. "What shall we do?" Dean asked in panic. He was concerned about all the people that were living in Luin.

"We're probably too late, but let's go there." Kratos said. "Let's break up camp. We won't run there though. I still is quite a bit of travelling before we reach Luin. Let's hurry, but if we get there exhausted, we won't be any help." Everyone agreed. They quickly put out the campfire and packed their stuff. Kratos had still some torches in his pack. He said he carried them around in case they had come across a cave or a Seal which was really dark. The one in the front had a torch and one in the back. Kratos was taking the lead and Dean was guarding the rear. He had drawn his weapon in case they would encounter monsters. One could never tell how monsters would react in response to such a big fire. Even though they were travelling at a fast pace it still took an hour and half before the group reached Luin. The bridge that led to the town was partly destroyed, but you could still walk over it. When they reached the town every building was destroyed.

"This is…" Lloyd stammered.

"Horrible…" Colette finished the sentence. There was no living soul nearby. Some of the buildings were still burning. There were dead bodies scattered around of men, women and some of them were even children. Some of the bodies were burned, other bodies were smashed by rumble and others had marks of wounds inflicted by manmade weapons. The group searched the area. The bridges that connected the town were broken. Nobody was alive. The last area the group reached was the area with the fountain where Dean, Colette, Lloyd and Genis had been playing with the children of Luin. This area was in ruin as well, but there was one person alive. That person was Sheena, the assassin that tried to take the life of Colette.

"You! Now you're even over here?!" Genis exclaimed as soon as he saw the woman. The woman was crouching the ground as there was blood all over her body. She didn't look good.

"What happened?" Lloyd asked the assassin. "You're badly wounded."

"…Oh, it's you guys." the assassin responded with a bitter voice. "If you want to finish me off, now's your chance. I don't have any strength left to fight." There was blood dripping from her hands. The blood on her body seemed to be hers, but as to others. There were no other bodies in this area though.

"You're hurt badly. Professor! Please… heal her." Colette pleaded to Raine.

"… I will, but first I want you to tell me what happened here. It seems she has companions, and this may just be a trap to catch us off guard." The Professor answered in a neutral voice. Her eyes were alight and she was scanning the area with her eyes the whole time, expecting an attack.

"Professor!" Colette shouted in protest.

"Hah! You're as devious as you look." Sheena said with a bitter smile.

"Call me what you like." The professor responded, her guard not withdrawing.

"Take a look at this city. Everything's in ruin. The Desians… invaded." Sheena started talking. Talking wasn't easy for her and she was breathing hard. One of her hands was pressed to her shoulders. It seemed she had a big wound there.

"What?! The Desians?!" Dean said in surprised. Anger and rage boiled up inside him. "Those bastards!"

"Do you know about the human ranch northeast of here? The people of this city had been hiding some folks who escaped from the ranch. The Desians found out about it and not only was the entire population forced to go to the ranch, but the city was destroyed. Anyone who resisted was killed. It didn't matter to them if they were men, women or kids." Sheena continued the story full with anger in her voice. She was clenching her teeth while speaking.

"So, how were you injured?" Colette asked the assassin.

"It's nothing." The woman responded, like she wasn't bleeding to death. "I was just a little clumsy." Being clumsy wasn't a good thing for an assassin, that's for certain. After Sheena said that a pastor came running into the city, screaming for help.

"Ahh! Help me, please!" The pastor screamed as he ran for his life. An enormous monster came walking towards him. The skin of the monster was blue purple like. It's arms were gigantic and almost reached to the ground. Both its hands and feet had huge claws. It had a weird cucumber like head. It was also wearing a half torn and stretched green with white dress.

"That's…" Lloyd stammered.

"It's Clara! She managed to get all the way here!" It seemed the rest of the group knew who or what the monster was. Sheena managed to get up and prepared to attack the monster.

"Stay back you monster!" She shouted. The monster just slammed one of its arms against Sheena, who was too weak to avoid the attack. The assassin was flung to the ground.

"Ahh!" Sheena screamed as she was hit.

"Dammit!" Lloyd said, not knowing what to do. Colette then put out her wings and flew towards the monster they called Clara.

"Clara, please calm down!" Colette tried to calm down the monster. The monster tried to attack her as well. Dean quickly put a barrier around Colette. Colette was hit, panicked, lost her wings and fell to the ground. The monster called Clara lost her interest and walked out of town again.

"Colette, are you okay?" Genis asked the blond girl.

"Y…yes." Colette tried to act like she wasn't hurt that bad when she couldn't feel anything. The group then paid their attention back to the assassin who was still lying on the ground. She seemed to be more in pain now and she couldn't get up, even though she tried.

"She's lost a lot of blood." Kratos stated.

"You're right. Professor, please heal her." Lloyd asked the professor.

"Professor, please!" Colette pleaded the elf woman.

"Fine!" the Professor said in frustration. "But I swear, you're all way too softhearted for your own good." Dean kind of agreed with her. He was still on guard. Raine approached the assassin as she pulled out her wand and used a healing spell on the woman. Sheena felt better immediately and was now able to get up.

"Why… Why did you save me?" Sheena asked the group in wonder. By the sound of it, she expected to die at that place.

"Probably for the same reason you saved that man." Lloyd answered the question.

"I know it's selfish, unreasonable thing to say at this point, but um… I have a favour to ask of you." Sheena said with a soft voice. Dean could tell she was totally open and didn't have her guard open. Or she was a great actor and it only seemed that way.

"A favour?" Lloyd asked.

"I owe the people of this city for food and lodging. Please. Help me save these people. If you agree, I'll declare a truce with you and help in any way I can."

"You'll help in any way you can, you say?" Dean asked before anyone could response. "Does that mean that you'll help to release the Seals?" Dean closely observed her reaction. Her body language could reveal any hidden motives. The woman didn't say anything for a while as she was thinking. You could see from the faces that she was making that she was having some kind of internal battle with herself. She was carefully thinking about this question. After he shoulders dropped, like she was defeated.

"Yes. Even that." She answered.

"Then we have a common goal. I don't mind if she comes." Dean said in a neutral voice.

"Dean? Are you out of your mind?" The Professor exclaimed.

"Yes, you can come with us." Lloyd said.

"Lloyd!" The Professor screamed.

"I agree with Dean and Lloyd." Colette said in a cheerful matter, happy that she was finally given the chance to become friends with the 'assassin'.

"Colette, not you too!" The elf woman really wasn't okay with this.

"It is easier to keep a close eye on her this way. She'll prove useful if she helps with the Seals." Kratos just said.

"I'm sorry Raine! But I don't mind if she comes along as well." Genis said to his sister while he was making himself small.

"Fine! Do as you wish!" Professor said as she swung up her hands. She had given up on the matter. "But I suppose Kratos is right. We can keep a close eye on her this way."

"Heh. You'd better watch out so you don't lose your head while you sleep." Sheena said with somewhat evil grin on her face. Dean looked with a question at her. That made her feel uneasy somehow. "It was a joke, alright?"

"I think you should wait making jokes like that. After all, we were enemies until just a while ago." Dean said back to her.

"Okay, I'm sorry. That was inappropriate." Sheena answered back.

"You know the way to the Human Ranch, right?" Kratos then asked the assassin. She nodded. "Then lead the way. We're still not so familiar with this area." The group left the ruined city of Luin behind. The hope was all gone from the city. Only despair was left. By the time the group left Luin it was getting light. After the group left Luin they took a break and ate breakfast. They didn't want to stay behind in that city where the stench of death and burnt things still lingered. Until they couldn't smell the destruction anymore they kept going. Everyone was quiet during breakfast. Dean helped Genis with preparing, but his mind was with the Desians. The hate and anger inside him had been reawakened. His hands couldn't stop shaking and he had the urge to let out some steam. After breakfast he wandered a bit away from camp. He used his magic to utterly destroy a boulder that was near. He shouted as he let out his anger. After he cooled down a bit he heard footsteps behind him. He quickly turned around to see who it was, his hand already on his sword, ready to draw it if needed.

"Whoa. No need for violence." the voice of a woman answered. It was Sheena. Dean let out of sigh and let down his guard, but not entirely.

"What do you want?" Dean asked with still a bit of irritation left in his voice.

"Just checking up on you. I saw some flashing and the sight of magic. I thought something had happened. So… What were you doing?" Sheena said with a curious voice.

"Just letting out some steam."

"Hey… I know we're all really sad and angry at the Desians… We all are. Was that really necessary?" Her voice was filled with concern. Dean didn't want the concern of someone who had been one of his enemies a bit before. He still didn't care for this woman. If she was useful, they would use her. That was all he thought.

"Yes. It was for me. Now if you excuse me, I'm going back to the others." Dean walked past her, careful for any sudden movements.

"No need to be cold like this." Sheena muttered. Dean heard it and it lit a flame again. The anger was back just like that.

"Cold? Sad? Angry? You don't even know what that is!" Dean shouted at Sheena. "If it was up to me and if I had the power, I would destroy all of the Desians. They will pay for everything that they've done. The amount of suffering they have created is endless. I'm going to kill them all if I have the chance. They will pay! For everything!" Dean didn't meant to shout at her, but it almost seemed like she was asking for it. She seemed shocked and hurt. Dean noticed her reaction. "Look… Just leave me alone for a while." He turned around and went back to the camp.

"What was that about?" Kratos asked him when he got back. Great… Everyone had heard him.

"It's nothing. Just had to let out some steam." Dean answered and he walked away. Kratos grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Don't lose your cool when we arrive at the base." Kratos somehow warned him.

"I can't promise you that. Now let me go." Dean pulled away his arm. He grabbed his stuff and walked towards the direction they were travelling just a moment ago. He wasn't paying to the rest of the travelling of that day. Everyone noticed the mood he was one and didn't get close. Even Colette had problems with getting near to him. Even if she came close to him and tried to talk to him, he just increased his pace and walked away. He didn't want to talk. He would only scream at them as well. He didn't want to do that. He avoided everyone on purpose. After dinner he had cooled down a bit and could think for a bit again. After dinner he went up to Sheena.

"What do you want?" Sheena asked him with a cold voice. He was now getting the cold shoulder. He didn't blame her.

"Look… I'm sorry for shouting at you. I didn't mean to." There was a silence then for a while. Dean wanted to walk away.

"Don't walk away, okay?" Sheena sighed. "I'm sorry as well. It seemed my reactions were a bit careless as well. Colette told me. That the Desians had captured you in the past and that they did horrible things to you."

"It's okay. You didn't know. I try be calm and think things through most of the time, but whenever I remember those things the Desians did to me I just get so angry. When I heard that the Desians destroyed Luin, I just lost control over myself for a while." Dean said in a calm voice.

"You looked like a madman." Sheena joked back.

"I guess I did." Dean sighed. "Anyway, I'm sorry."

"It's okay." There was once again a silence, but it felt good.

"I'm going to let out some more steam." Sheena looked surprised at him. "Don't worry, I'm not going to do it that flashy again. I'm just going to swing my sword around for a bit." Dean walked a bit outside of camp again. He took out his sword and he imagined he was fighting an enemy that wasn't there. He attacked, blocked, parried, dodged and counterattacked against thin air. He gathered mana while doing this too. He was doing it like he was in some kind of trance. He defended himself by putting up some of his barriers. After doing it some half an hour Dean felt tired. He went back to camp and went to sleep. He still didn't want to talk anyone just yet. The next morning there was no training. They were too close to the Desian base and they couldn't afford to make much noise. Since they were infiltrating the Desian Human Ranch of that area, they would need all the strength they needed that day. As they approached the base they found out the a lot of Desians were on patrol. They had to hide in the bushes in order not to be seen.

"The security is intense. It's completely different from last time." Genis whispered.

"Yeah. Even if we get inside…" Lloyd said.

"Hmm… There is a way though…" The Professor said while thinking about something.

"Professor, I bet you're thinking the same thing I'm thinking." Lloyd then said.

"What? What are we going to do?" Colette asked.

"We'll disguise ourselves as Desians and sneak in." Lloyd explained.

"I see the gears in your head move quickly only at times like this." The Professor then whispered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lloyd said a bit insulted. He had heard it.

"Oh, I see. If we look like Desians, we won't get caught." Colette then said. The rest of the group already agreed with the plan.

"Well, well. That's quite a daring plan Raine." Sheena then said.

"I don't think this is the best plan either, but do we have any other choice?" Raine answered.

"The Desian patrol is here. What shall we do?" Kratos asked as he observed the movements of the enemy.

"Let's do it." Sheena whispered excited.

"We'll have to ambush them. We can't just rush out there and kill them, that would be too oblivious. We are quite a bit away from the ranch." Dean said. He stopped to think a bit more. "As long we make sure nobody hears any loud voices, we'll be fine."

"What do you suggest?" Kratos asked.

"Sheena, you're an assassin. You think you can quickly take out one of them?" Dean asked Sheena.

"I should be able to do that. The others will be able to raise an alarm as soon as they see me though."

"Okay, here is the plan. At my sign Sheena sneak around and kill one of the guards. As soon as Sheena kills her target Kratos, Genis and I will use wind magic to take out one other guard. Professor, you will at the same time use Photon on the last guard. He will be blinded and stunned for a moment. That will give Sheena enough time to take the last one out as well. Lloyd, you will stand by here and jump into battle if something goes wrong. If something goes wrong, we'll leave this area as soon as possible after we take out the guards. Just try not to make any bloodstains on their clothing, we will need them later on." Everybody nodded. They then headed towards an area that was good for an ambush according to Sheena. The magic users took their time to prepare their spells. After the guards had their backs on the group Sheena moved out of their hiding place without any noise and quickly took out one of the guards, a woman. Raine used her Photon on the other female guard and Dean, Genis and Kratos used their magic to take out the last guard, which was a mage. Quickly after the Photon ended Sheena took out the other female guard as well. Dean could see the look in her eyes, which was cold as ice at that moment. She seemed a cheerful young woman when she was with the rest of the group, but it moments like this you could really tell that she was a true assassin. The rest of the group came out of hiding then. The clothes of the male mage were all torn up due to the influence of the wind magic they had used, but the clothes of the female Desians were spotless. They dragged the bodies away into hiding and took off their clothes. They then dragged the bodies to an open spot away from the Desian Base and burned the corpses to ashes with magic, erasing all traces.

"It seems we only got two female Desian outfits." Dean said.

"Aw… I wanted to dress up as an Desian as well." Lloyd joked around.

"This is not a game." Kratos reacted.

"I know. I know." Lloyd answered.

"Then Sheena and I will wear the Desian uniforms. The rest of you will pose as our prisoners. Lloyd and Dean are wanted by the Desians. We'll use that excuse to get into the base." The Professor decided.

"I hope they will believe us." Dean said.

"It's our best option. We'll tie you up with the rope we have. We'll have to leave the rest of our supplies here and hide it. Let's just hope they won't claim your weapons. We'll find our way towards the security room. I'll be able to hack into their system from there." Sheena and Raine tied the hands of the 'prisoners' together and then linked the ropes with each other. This way they could easily keep an eye on their captives. Then the group continued towards the Desian Base. Raine was at the front and Sheena at the rear. Every Desian let them through until they reached the guard.

"Stop!" the Desian guard said to the group.

"We've done it!" Raine just exclaimed. She was nervous and it was hard for her to act.

"Done what?" The guard asked confused.

"We've found the wanted criminals, Lloyd Irving and Dean!" Raine shouted nervous.

"What?! Good work! And you've even caught them alive. The rest of the group will be great prisoners as well."

"I want to turn him over to the Five Grand Cardinals immediately. Let me through."

"Understood. Go on it! Good job!" With that they easily went into the Desian base. They first reached some kind of square where there were a lot of giant boxes. There were a few more guards here, but none of them stopped them. The entrance was free as well. After they went inside they asked around where the control room was so they could take a look at the map. Those Desians didn't suspect anything and even led them to the control room. Once inside Raine and Sheena took off the helmets the Desians wear, so they could breathe properly again. Sheena released everyone from their ropes as Raine was already hacking the system.

"It looks like this is an Exsphere manufacturing plant." Raine said. "Does anything look familiar so far Dean?" From the control room the group could see other rooms where several conveyor belts were moving around manufactured Exspheres. There were a lot of Desians guarding this room, but most of them looked really bored.

"I can remember the square, but for the rest I can't really remember anything. I've never been in this room as well. I can only remember my cell, the cell of the other prisoners and the rooms where I've been tortured. The rest of this ranch really looked like a maze. It may not seem like it, but this place is really huge and everything looks the same. I was always surprised that the Desians here didn't get lost."

"These are all Exspheres? Incredible…" Lloyd said, clearly still impressed by the view he was seeing. Raine was still working on the computer, but she was having trouble.

"Shh. I hear voices coming from the next room." Colette said all of a sudden.

"I don't hear anything…" Genis said after he listened for a while.

"Be careful anyway." Lloyd warned. As he said that a door opened and of them came three 'Desians'. One of them was the bearded man who they fought at the Triet Base.

"Hmm?! You!" Said the 'Desian' named Botta.

"Uh-oh, these are the Desians we ran into in the Triet Desert!" Lloyd said. He put one of his hands on one of his swords.

"They still think we're Desians." said one of the other 'Desians'.

"Sir, this is the perfect chance!" another one of the 'Desians' said to Botta.

"Are you looking for a fight?" Kratos asked as he drew his weapon.

"Wait. Kratos is with them. We'll retreat for now." Botta said to his underlings.

"Do you know each other?" Lloyd asked Kratos, surprised Botta knew Kratos by his name.

"I suppose, if you mean the fact that we ran into them at the Triet Base and I meant to saw him at Iselia as well." Kratos answered.

"I think it would be in both of our interests for us not to fight here." Botta said to Kratos.

"Do what you will." Kratos answered, but he didn't put away his weapon. Dean was preparing a basic spell in case their enemy decided to change their mind. The group watched the 'Desians' flee from the scene as another door opened. Three Desian magicians were behind it and they launched their magic at Colette and Kratos, who were standing the closest to the door. The magicians fired one gigantic fireball towards Colette and Kratos. Dean acted quick.

"Flame Wall!" Dean shouted as a wall of fire appeared in front of Kratos and Colette. The wall absorbed the fireball, preventing it from hurting.

"We're okay." Colette sighed as she realised the attack didn't hurt them and they were protected.

"No time for that, look behind you!" Kratos shouted and he took Colette by the arm and dragged her away. From the door where the three magicians were a man appeared. Dean knew this man. That grey hair that was styled backwards, those cold eyes, those pointed elven ears and that upper body armour. There was no mistake. This was one of the Grand Desian Cardinals.

"You!" Dean screamed, filled with rage at the sight of the man.

"Well, this is a surprise. When I heard we had some rats, I assumed it was the Renegade Botta, but instead I find the wanted inferior beings… But it must say that I'm quite impressed that you deflected that attack." The Grand Desian Cardinal said with a smile on his face and with those cold eyes.

"Who are you?!" Lloyd asked in surprise.

"You barge into my ranch and then demand my name?" The Desian Cardinal asked surprised and annoyed.

"Wow Lloyd, isn't this usually the other way around?" Genis joked around. Dean was surprised the elf boy could joke around in a situation like this. Dean was already gathering mana in order to launch an attack at the man.

"He's Kvar, one of the Five Desian Grand Cardinals." Kratos answered. Kvar… Dean finally had a name with one of the devils that haunted his dreams. Now that he had a name, he could fight this demon more easily.

"Hahahaha!" Kvar laughed. "I see that some of you know me. It's just as Forcystus said. That Exsphere is without a doubt the product of my Angelus Project!" Kvar took out his wand and seemed like he wanted to attack. Colette threw one of her chakrams at Kvar, but the man easily evaded the attack.

"Air Trust!" Dean shouted. This time the Desian Leader had to bring out a magical shield, one of the same techniques Kratos had taught the group to guard against magical attacks.

"Let's make a run for it! We're at a disadvantage in this place." Dean shouted as he ran into the room where Kvar had come from. The rest of the group followed him. They entered the manufacturing plant. They had to take out some of the Desian guards, but with their teamwork they easily took out the scum. The group followed the path of the room, but it eventually ended at a dead end. At the dead end it showed a window with behind it humans on the conveyor belts. The humans went into some kind of machine and at the end of the machine the group could see containers with Exspheres on them.

"What the hell is this?!" Dean shouted. He probably had guessed what was happening, but he didn't want to see the truth.

"This is where the Exspheres are removed from the host bodies." the voice of Kvar said. The Desian Leader had already caught up with them and behind him were dozens of Desians. The group was trapped. Kvar knew it and he enjoyed it.

"Do you mean that Exspheres are made from… human bodies?" Raine asked Kvar.

"Not exactly." Kvar answered. His eyes were alight like this was one wonderful project he would present to his students as he was the teacher. "Exspheres are dormant at first. They extract nourishment from humans to grow and awake. Human ranches are Exsphere manufacturing plants. Why else would we spend our time raising and taking care of these inferior beings?"

"Raising and taking care of inferior beings?" Dean asked back. "You call the things you do to humans taking care of them? You barely feed them, you submit them to torture and you let the life force suck out of their lives! You sick monster!" Dean shouted at Kvar.

"That's terrible!" Genis said as a response to what Dean and Kvar said.

"Terrible? Terrible is what you've done. Stealing and using Exspheres that we've invested so much time and care in creating. And as for your question you inferior being. We're just manufacturing Exspheres. Exspheres are of much more value than those stupid inferior beings." Dean didn't believe it. That stupid Desian Leader didn't recognise him. An evil smile appeared on the face of Dean. If Kvar didn't remember him, he would make sure that Kvar would remember him. Dean would have loved to pummel Kvar into oblivion, but they were surrounded by Desians and things weren't looking good for them. They would be taken prisoner like this.

"Damn! We're surrounded…" Lloyd said.

"Lloyd." Kvar focused his attention at Lloyd. "Your Exsphere was to be an offering to Lord Yggdrasill. It's time you gave it back."

"Yggdrasill… I suppose that's the name of your leader." Raine stated with a calm voice. She was on her guard and prepared to fight if needed.

"Yes. Now, for the sake of our great leader, Lord Yggdrsill, and for the sake of my own success, I ned that Exsphere!" Kvar shouted.

"Again?! What's so special about my Exsphere?" Lloyd asked his question out loud.

"That is the result of years of time-consuming research. I can finally reclaim what was stolen by that filthy female host body." Kvar answered.

"What are you talking about? The female host body? You're not talking about…"

"Hmm, you don't know anything, do you? That Exsphere was cultured on host body A012, human name, Anna. Your mother. She took it and escaped from the facility. Of course, she paid for her crime with her life." Kvar was laughing in delight, but there was a hint of madness in his eyes.

"You killed my…" Lloyd said angrily.

"Now, now, don't blame me. I'm not the one that killed Anna. Your father did." Kvar continued to talk in a calm voice.

"Liar!" Lloyd angrily shouted.

"Please. When her Key Crest-less Exsphere was removed, Anna turned into a monster… And your father killed her. Pathetic, don't you think?" Kvar laughed out loud.

"Do not speak ill of the dead." Kratos now said angrily. Dean was still filled with rage, but he was surprised. Why was Kratos angry about this. It was the mother of Lloyd that was murdered. Did he know Anna?

"Hahahaha! Who cares? They were both just a couple of filthy human… Worthless maggots." A great hate and despise radiated from Kvar.

"Don't you ever talk about my parents like that!" Lloyd said angrily. The Desian soldiers were now coming closer and closer. We all had nowhere to go. Sheena then stepped forward.

"I'll handle this." the former assassin said. She took out one card. "I'm gonna use the last one Grandpa." She muttered to the card. She then threw the card on the ground and from it came a green guardian. The guardian somehow teleported the group outside the Human Ranch. They appeared at the spot where they had hidden their stuff.

"Thank you Sheena!" Colette said to the woman in the strange clothes.

"Don't mention it, but what are we going to do now?" Sheena asked back.

"I think the best course of action is to get the hell out of here." Dean said. "I would love to trust my sword through the chest of that Kvar, but we're at an disadvantage here. Let's travel towards Luin and decide tonight at camp what we should do." The others agreed with the camp. Lloyd was still angry, but there was a storm raging inside of Dean. He let the storm be. He would use the strength of the storm the next time they would encounter Kvar. The group was silent the whole time they were travelling, too shocked about the things they had learned at the ranch. When the group encountered some monsters on the way, Dean and Kratos made quick work of the monsters. It seemed like both of them were letting out some steam. Kratos had a scary look on his face as well, but he was trying to hide it. When the group found a suitable place to set up camp they stopped. There was a small river nearby. Colette and Sheena gathered some water from it. The rest of the group searched for wood they could use for the night. As Dean was cooking dinner most of the people were looking at their Exspheres.

"I can't believe Exspheres are made from human lives." Sheena finally said, breaking through the silence.

"This is Marble's life…" Genis muttered. Lloyd then angry took out his Exsphere from his glove.

"Arrgh! This… Thing!" Lloyd said despised by the Exsphere he was holding in his hand.

"Lloyd, wait. What will you accomplish by taking that off? It's not just an Exsphere, it's also your mother's life, remember?" Colette said to Lloyd in order to calm him down. Dean was trying to keep his concentration at dinner in order not to burn the stew he was making.

"But these things make a mockery of human life." Lloyd then said.

"But we would have lost long ago had we not had them." Kratos then said in a calm voice. It seemed that his anger had subdued as well.

"Don't you think I know that?!" Lloyd yelled at Kratos.

"Then throw it away." Dean then said.

"What?" Lloyd asked surprised.

"If you're so eager to throw your life away and sacrifice everything you've worked for. Be my guest. Throw the Exsphere away." Dean's voice was calm, but the storm inside of him was still raging. "You're nothing without it Lloyd. I could manage without an Exsphere in the beginning where the monsters were weak and I could finish my enemies off with magic, but do you think that is still the case. You're worthless if you fight without your Exsphere Lloyd. Do you want to finish this journey or not?" Lloyd was surprised by the reaction of Dean. The voice of Dean had been sharp and had cut through everything like a knife. Lloyd looked at his Exsphere.

"Yeah, you're right. Without these things, we're just a bunch of weak humans. We can fight because we have these. I know that, but Exspheres exist as a result of taking someone's life!" Lloyd said angrily again.

"And?" Kratos asked. "Those people didn't become victims because they wanted to, but I doubt they would want to be thrown away after being turned into Exspheres."

"My opinion may not matter much because I don't use an Exsphere," Colette said to Lloyd. "but I believe the Desians will defeat us if we throw away our Exspheres now. And if that happens, more people will lose their lives to these stones. I don't want that to happen. I don't want this journey to be meaningless."

"Colette's right. We can throw away the Exspheres at any time. But right now, we must carry the weight of the hopes and dreams of these victims and fight for their sake, as well as ours. Didn't you say you weren't going to hesitate anymore?" Kratos continued to persuade Lloyd.

"I just can't! I know you're right, but… but right now… Let me think by myself for a while, okay?" Lloyd asked. He walked away from the rest of the group. Dean was finished with cooking. He divided the stew over several cups, one for each member of the group, which included Sheena from now on. He gave everyone their stew, then grabbed his own cup and Lloyd's cup and walked towards where Lloyd was. Dean could easily find Lloyd, he wasn't hard to spot.

"Lloyd? I don't know if you're hungry, but here is dinner." Dean said to the boy in red. He gave him the cup together with a spoon.

"Thanks Dean."

"Do you mind if I stay here for a bit? I don't feel like returning to the group just yet." Lloyd didn't respond. He just looked at his own Exsphere in silence. Dean started eating his stew. It was really good, but it didn't lift his spirits. His emotions were still going around like crazy. Dean felt somehow calm even though because if it though.

"Mom… did you suffer… when this thing took your life? Will you forgive me… for using this?" Lloyd asked himself as he spoke at the Exsphere.

"I think I can answer that question Lloyd." Dean said the boy in red.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Oh come on Lloyd. Have you forgotten? I was captured by the Desians. I was treated special by them. My Exsphere was different from the rest."

"What are you getting at Dean?" Lloyd asked angrily, confused.

"What do you think what they did to me Lloyd?"

"How should I know?" Dean sighed.

"It was probably the same experiment they did on your mum as they did on me. Let me tell you, getting your life drained by an Exsphere isn't a fun thing. It's horrible. It's the Exsphere that makes you a zombie. But you know Lloyd. If I died from it and was turned into an Exsphere, I would want you to use me. I wanted you to use me and make sure that nobody else would suffer like I did. That's probably what your mum wants as well." There was a silence for a moment.

"Thanks Dean. I needed that."

"That's what friends are for. Exspheres are the lives of people. Let's treat them with respect and not just throw them away."

"Yeah. You're right."

"I'm going back to camp now. Don't forget to eat your dinner. You need your strength. I'll see you in the morning."

"See you in the morning Dean." Dean walked away and towards the camp. As he went towards it he saw Kratos standing on the path towards it.

"Thank you Dean. For talking Lloyd into using his Exsphere." The man said with a gentle expression on his face.

"I did it for him. I did it because we are friends. Not for this journey. I'll finish this journey alone with Colette if it comes to that, even if it hurts the both of us like hell."

"I know. Dean?"

"What is it Kratos?"

"We're going to get Kvar. I promise you that." That made Dean smile.

"Of course Kratos. He'll pay. For what he did to me. And what he did to Anna." Kratos' face and expression didn't change when Dean mentioned the name Anna. Either the man didn't know Anna and was just pissed in general at Kvar, or the man was really, really, really good at hiding his emotions. Dean still thought it was the latter. It was his gut feeling that told him this. Dean returned to the camp.

"Is Lloyd okay?" Colette asked Dean with a concerned look on her face. Genis was looking concerned as well.

"Yeah. He will be back soon. He just needs a little bit more time alone. He'll be fine. Are you okay?" Dean asked in return.

"I still can't believe it." Colette said. "It's just so horrible."

"How could they do such a thing?" Genis asked in shock.

"They hate humans…" Dean answered.

"What was that Dean?" Sheena asked.

"I noticed it in the beginning when I was at the human Ranch." Dean said as he somehow got into trance as he was recalling bad memories. "All of the Desians, every last one of them, whether they were old or young or at least looked like it… They all had one thing in common. That look in their eyes. The way they looked at the humans. The way they called us inferior beings. The hate, the grudge, the anger. They all share a common despise for humans. They hate them from the bottom of their heart. I don't know why, but humans are thrash in the eyes of Desians. They don't call humans for nothing inferior beings. They merely see us as cattle. People don't weep for their food. It's the same thing in their eyes." Everyone was quiet after that.

"Still that doesn't mean that they can do such things." Lloyd said. Nobody had noticed that he had returned.

"Lloyd!" Genis said. "You okay now?"

"Of course I'm okay!" Lloyd said with a grin on his face. "We're going to make sure that those Desians aren't getting their way!"

"That's great Lloyd, but what about some sleep? A lot has happened this day. Let's think how we're going to do that tomorrow." Dean said as he let out a yawn. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm beat."

"Are you serious?" Lloyd asked. Dean didn't answered. He merely lay down on his blanket and fell asleep. Dean didn't wake up until morning when Kratos woke him up. They didn't wake Lloyd up, the two of them sparred together. Kratos gave Dean a lot of tips that morning and Dean took them all to heart. What happened the day before remembered him of the reason why he wanted to become strong. If Dean couldn't beat Kratos on his own, he couldn't beat Kvar. Dean wasn't alone however and he knew it. Together with Lloyd and Kratos they would put an end to Kvar. After training Dean was tired, but the training had left him satisfied. After everyone got up and they were enjoying breakfast Kratos was already getting ready to go.

"Well, what now? Have you made up your mind Lloyd?" Kratos asked the boy in red.

"There is one thing I realised. I'm certain that my mother must have wantd to live longer than she did. Therefore, I'm going to live… for myself, and for my mom too." Lloyd said.

"So you're going to fight?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. And we're going to break this cycle. For the sake of preventing anymore victims like Marble, my mom and even Dean. I'm going to help Colette on her journey to regenerate the world."

"Yeah… Me too." Genis said. "I'm going to fight on Marble's behalf as well."

"Me too." Colette said determined. "I'm going to regenerate the world as quickly as I can."

"I think you've made a wise decision Lloyd. People are sinful beings. That's why we must continue to bear the burden of our sins for as long as we continue to live." Raine said to Lloyd.

"Life survives at the cost of another?" Sheena asked. "I don't really know how to say this, but I don't think there's a way to justify the lives sacrificed to make Exspheres. They have to be stopped at all cost!"

"But what are we going to do now? We mean to stop him, but how?" Lloyd asked then.

"Kvar will undoubtedly increase the security now. We won't be able to get in easily." Kratos said.

"Sheena, you said that some people escaped from the ranch. Do you know any?" Raine asked Sheena.

"There was this man called Pietro. He lives in Hima." Sheena answered.

"We should find this man and ask how he escaped." Dean then said.

"Let's go to Hima then." Lloyd said.

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><p><strong>Exspheres are strange things... Or creatures... Or parasites... I don't know what Exspheres are. Maybe you guys know?<br>**

**The group finds out what carrying the burden of using an Exsphere really means. Exspheres are cool, but I wouldn't want one if it meant the live of another human being. I'm not that heartless.**

**Kvar will get what he deserves the next chapter!**


	9. The Desians Will Pay!

**Travelling takes way too much time in this fanfiction, but have you ever thought about that you can just cross almost a great part of the world within a minute, if monsters don't bother you that is, while playing the game? That's a bit unrealistic. That's why travelling is a pain in the ass this fanfiction. Especially to keep the travelling interesting. Well, it is my decision. Better follow the consequences of that choice.**

**Please enjoy this chapter as well.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia.**

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><p>The group left towards the west. They had to circle around the mountains as Hima lay against the mountain, but at the south side of the mountain. It was a long journey towards Hima. It took the group three weeks to get there. They had to hunt for food almost every day, because they had to be careful with their supplies. Fortunately they could find water most of the time. Since that their group had gained a member, it also meant that they had one more member to support during the travelling. Sheena was apparently from what she called a 'ninja' village. Apparently it is a village that you can't find unless you know where to go. A 'ninja' is some kind of assassin. Anyone could hire them if they had the money, but they didn't take any job. When Dean asked a bit more about it, curious about it and curious to find out more about Sheena and where she came from, Sheena suddenly changed the subject. She had probably said too much already. Since that Sheena was a ninja, she was good in surviving in the open. She was really a big help with everything they did so far, although she was a bit clumsy from time to time. Dean liked hanging out with Sheena. She was easy to talk too and she knew a lot of things. She could cook too. Dean, Genis and Sheena could almost talk all day about cooking, how they liked to cook some things and what herbs they liked to use. After travelling with her for three weeks Dean had almost completely forgotten that she used to be their enemy. She had gotten more than enough opportunities to kill Colette. She still didn't want to talk about the reason why. Dean had tried to get that information out of her, but she grew a cautious look on her face when he tried. All she said is that 'she would tell them one day'. Dean stopped pressing it and decided to wait until she was ready to tell. Raine had been cautious around her especially in the beginning, but at the end of the three weeks she was comfortable enough around Sheena to go into one of her 'Ruin Modes' and tell Sheena everything about the Balucraf Museum. Poor Sheena was forced to listen for two hours straight. The monsters in this area were though. There was this huge chickencock like monster which could turn you into stone with one of its attacks. The Professor knew how to cure it with magic though and they had medicine that could undo the whole 'stone statue' thing. The Professor called it petrification. They also encountered monsters called ogres in the area. They were dumb, slow creatures, but their skin was though and if they hit you with the wooden clubs they were using, you would get knocked out. Most of the time the group took them out from a distance with magic. The meat of these creatures was really juicy somehow. The days flew by as the group travelled to Hima. Both Lloyd and Dean got stronger in the period of travelling and training. Dean even learnt some new spells in this period of time. The group arrived at Hima tired, because they had to climb up part of the mountain before they reached the village. Upon arrival the group heard a commotion.

"Finish it off now!" a man screamed. It was a warrior who was carrying around a two-handed broadsword. They were hunting the 'monster' that the group had last seen in Luin. It was Clara. After Luin the rest had told him that Clara was the wife of governal-general Dorr from Palmacosta. The Desians had captured her, put an Exsphere on the woman and let her turn into a monster. They bribed Dorr and took money from him as they promised that they would return his wife to return as long as he kept paying them. Dorr had been the puppet of the Desians. The Chosen's group wanted to restore Clara back to normal, but they hadn't found a way how just yet. Now Clara was about to be killed by warriors who were hunting her. Lloyd ran up in front.

"Stop!" the boy in red shouted to the warriors.

"Don't interfere! This is our prey! It has a bounty on its head and we're not going to give it to you!" the warrior said. There was also an archer and a magician backing up the warrior.

"Clara, please stop! We want to save you. Please calm down…" Colette tried to calm down the 'monster', but Clara ignored her and pushed her back into the ground as she fled from the scene.

"Dammit! After that monster!" The warrior, archer and magician went after Clara as she fled out of the village. Clara was fast and they couldn't keep up with her.

"Colette, are you okay?" Lloyd asked the blond girl as he helped her up.

"Yes…" the girl answered. Genis then saw something on the ground and picked it up.

"Clara dropped this." the elf boy said as he showed everyone a key. Raine took a close look at the key.

"This is… this is the key to the Tower of Mana." the elf woman said with delight in her voice.

"She must have somehow stolen that key from the pastor we saw in Luin. He said that he lost the key to the Tower of Mana." Dean said.

"Thank goodness that we don't have to look for the key anymore." Colette said.

"I hope Clara will be fine…" Raine said softly.

"Don't worry Raine. We'll find a way how to save her." Genis tried to cheer up his sister.

"Anyway, I'm beat. Shall we get a room in the inn." Sheena proposed. One of the few buildings in the village was the inn. This village looked more like a stop for weary travellers than anything else. It would be hard to get supplies here too. Inside the inn a woman recognised Sheena.

"Sheena!" the woman called out the ninja's name.

"Sophia! How is Pietro? Is he still…?" Sheena asked the woman named Sophia.

"I'm sorry… He passed away…" Sophia said with tears in her eyes. The whole group was shocked to hear this. That man had been their only hope of ever breaking into the Desian Base.

"Did he say anything? Something about the human ranch perhaps?" Genis asked, not wanting to give up hope.

"I… I don't know… I don't even know if he really escaped from there." Sophia replied with still tears in her eyes.

"What about his belongings?" The Professor asked.

"He didn't have any." Sophia replied.

"Where is his grave? We would look to give our prayers to his soul." Raine said.

"It's at the small graveyard of this village. It's behind this inn up to the top of the mountain. Please, don't think about digging up his grave…" Sophia pleaded.

"Why would we do such a thing like that?" Dean asked out loud. "We'll just give our prayers to his soul, that's all." The group then exits the inn and headed towards the graveyard of the village. There were about a dozen graves in the village, but most of them seemed to be recent ones. Times had been hard on the people of this village it seems. It took a minute until the group found the grave of Pietro.

"I suppose digging up the grave is out of the question…" The Professor softly said.

"You actually thought about that?" Dean asked the elf woman, but she didn't reply.

"Anyway, let's pray." Dean didn't really believe in the Goddess Martel, but he still prayed that the soul of the man was in a better place now. After a while a man appeared at the graveyard as well. He approached Colette. The man looked like skin and bones and he had a look on his face that Dean recognised all too well. It was the look of someone who was getting his energy force drained out of him by an Exsphere, a hollow look, the look of a zombie.

"Chosen… mana… die…" the man suddenly said.

"What's he saying?" Genis asked out loud the thoughts everyone had.

"Pietro! But Sophia said you were dead…" Sheena then said as she revealed the identity of the man. Sophia then came over running towards the graveyard as well.

"There you are. You mustn't come out here. Let's go." Sophia said as she pulled Pietro away from the group.

"Why did you lie to us Sophia?" Sheena asked Sophia. "That is Pietro and he looks alive to me."

"Really?" Lloyd asked in wonder. "Please tell me, how did you get away from the human ranch?" Lloyd was eager to get the information they needed out of the man.

"Boulder… big… underground… jewel… boulder… move… Chosen…" Pietro stammered. Dean knew what the man was going through. He had been like that before. There was an Exsphere imbedded inside the man as well. Dean tried to process what the man had said. There was a boulder they could move, but they needed a jewel to do that. It would probably lead to an underground route to the inside of the Human Ranch.

"What are you saying?" Genis asked after a while, not knowing what the man meant.

"Is that… the escape route?" Kratos asked, probably having thought the same thing as Dean.

"Please, let him be!" Sophia pleaded.

"Now listen!" Sheena said to Sophia, clearly a bit angry. "You may be happy just protecting Pietro, but because of this guy, countless from Luin are dead! The Desians raided the entire town. There is no more Luin. The rest of the people of Luin were captured. How about helping us just a little!"

"Luin's gone? I'm sorry. I didn't know. But you have to understand. He's been cursed. He probably has many things he wants to say, but because of the curse, he's been turned into this…" Sophia explained the group.

"But he's still alive. The dead can't even tell us that they were scared. Please. Help us." Lloyd now asked Sophia for help as well.

"We want to go to the ranch to rescue the people of Luin. If it's possible to get out, it's possible to get back in, right? Please." Colette joined Lloyd in asking for help.

"I'm willing to help you, but it's not for free." Sophia then said after a long silence. "Please lift his curse. The healing technique left behind by Boltzman is in the Tower of Mana. That may be able to cure his curse."

"All right. But infiltrating the ranch comes first. That I won't relinquish." Raine said accepting the deal.

"When Pietro escaped from the ranch, he said he came out through the front yard and he blocked the exit with a boulder. His things are in the grave. Take them with you."

"Thank you." Colette said. "We'll come back when we've acquired the healing technique."

"Come…" Sophia said to Pietro. "Let's go." The two of them left the graveyard and went back to the inn. The group then dug up the grave together. They found some kind of jewel buried there. This was probably the jewel they needed to move the boulder.

"Was there a boulder there?" Genis asked around.

"I do recall something that seemed unnatural." Kratos then said.

"Let's first take a good rest in this village. We're all tired from all the travelling." Raine proposed.

"Professor, do you think they will have supplies here?" Dean asked the elf woman. Dean looked at her with a troublesome face. She made the same face when he asked the question.

"Maybe some, but not much. It's going to cost us as well… Maybe we can trade the things we found in the Seals. Only one of those accessories is worth a fortune. We might have no choice but to trade it for the things we need." The Professor explained. "Let's not worry about money." She tried to help Dean not to worry about those things, but Dean could really see the poverty of this small village. There wasn't much to do in the village. The only people who lived here, where the people of the inn, the shop and their children. Dean, Lloyd, Colette and Genis decided to climb to the top of the mountain so that could see the beautiful view this mountain has to offer. Up upon the mountain they could take a really beautiful view of the mountains, of the forest that lay before them, the sky and the Tower of Salvation.

"Looking at it like this, it feels really close." Lloyd said.

"But it's really far away. It looks like there's no path leading to it." Genis then said.

"Why would we want to go to the Tower of Salvation?" Dean asked the elf boy.

"Well, there is a high chance we have to get there because of the journey of Salvation, don't you think?" Genis answered.

"Oh wow, it would be really nice to go there." Colette said.

"You there!" a man's voice said to them from behind. "Have you ever wanted to get closer view of the Tower of Salvation? If your answer is yes, then this is your lucky day!" The man started to talk like some kind of salesman. "Welcome to Dragon Tours. My humble dragons and I shall show you the way to the Tower of Salvation."

"What kind of a shady business is something like Dragon Tours?" Genis asked out loud.

"My dragons and I aren't installed in this area right now, so you'll have to wait before you can ride them. Say to all your friends and family the wonder of the Dragon Tours!" the man shouted to them and he left again.

"Who would want to do such a thing like that?" Genis asked out loud.

"Okay Mister, I'll be waiting!" Lloyd shouted at the man.

"I don't know Genis. I think it will be really cool to fly on the back of a dragon." Dean said. "Dragons are really cool and haven't you ever wondered what it be like to fly around in the sky?" Dean's eyes were alight and it seemed like he was even more excited about the Dragon Tours than Lloyd.

"Yeah, riding dragons will be fun!" Colette joined in.

"I don't know guys… Who would start something like Dragon Tours in a time like this?" the elf boy asked.

"The Tower of Salvation is a sign of hope. The people who have little hope left may just want to see it up close. With all this suffering around us, people cling to hope." Dean said to Genis.

"Yeah. You may be right." The group then was silent. They enjoyed the view a little bit longer, but then headed back to the inn. It was really high up the top and the wind was strong and cold out there. They decided to warm up at the inn. At the inn they played cards. Kratos and Raine were still out trying to get supplies and Sheena was talking with Sophia. The two of them had met before and were talking mostly about Pietro. Dean decided to cook dinner with the things they had gathered that morning during hunting. It kept his mind of things and it was nice to able to use a kitchen while cooking. Everyone enjoyed dinner that evening and Dean went to bed a bit after they had eaten dinner. He was more tired than he thought he had been.

The next morning Dean, Lloyd and Kratos trained early in the morning again. Gathering mana while fighting was a bit easier with each training. To release the gathered mana Dean cast a Barrier on himself, Lloyd or Kratos while sparring. Kratos and Raine had lately begun to try and teach Dean how to use healing magic since it seemed he had been able to learn fire magic as well. Until now Dean hadn't succeeded in using healing magic. Once in a while he could use the magic spell called 'Healing Wind', but he couldn't use the spell whenever he wanted. He had to clear his mind of all things while using healing magic. While he was practising magic in the evening with Raine and Genis it was easy to clear his mind of all things and use the healing magic, but while he was training with Kratos it was hard to clear his mind of all things. While fighting monsters it was even harder to do. The whole fighting ground made sure that Dean had trouble to clear his mind and his thoughts shot from one thing to another. Raine and Kratos said he had talent, but Dean wasn't too sure about this. Kratos could go to from melee fighting to using magic spells to healings spells in just a whim. While it wasn't hard for Dean to switch from fighting with a sword to using magic to finish off his enemies, it seemed impossible for him to switch to using healing magic in a fight. His respect for Kratos and Raine had increased quite a lot in this matter. They seemed to be able to stay calm in a fight and use healing magic even though their loved ones were getting hurt. Dean's emotions were still unstable. Every time he thought about the Desians and Luin his anger took over him. When he looked at Colette love filled his heart, but also sadness and pain. He wanted to help her and ease her pain, but there was nothing that he could do. Even though she totally fitted right into the group Dean still doubted Sheena. In order to protect himself from betrayal he didn't trust a person just like that anymore. His innocence was gone.

"What's with the grim look on your face?" Sheena asked Dean the morning they were about to leave Hima. Dean had been looking at Colette again. She was forcing a smile on her face, like always. She was really strong. She was somehow carrying that huge burden by herself and it didn't crush her. It didn't stop her. She was going through with the World Regeneration until the end.

"It's nothing." Dean murmered back.

"Don't want to talk about it, huh?" Sheena said to him. Dean ignored her. He didn't want to insult her, but she didn't need to know that he was worried about Colette. She had been the one who had tried to kill Colette. The reason why the whole group still didn't know. She hadn't said anything about it yet. That was enough for Dean to be suspicious about her. Everyone was ready to go that morning. Dean could see a burning in the eyes of Lloyd. Kratos seemed eager to go as well. He seemed restless the last weeks. This was new to Dean. Kratos and Kvar seemed to know each other. Dean couldn't link the two of them together though. Kratos didn't want to talk about it either. The whole group seemed to avoid Kratos a bit while he was this restless. Dean sometimes spotted a look in the eyes of Kratos that gave him the chills. It was like there was a murderous intention in his eyes. Dean wondered if he ever looked like that when he thought about the Desians. Kvar would go down. That was one thing that was certain. The only problem was that everyone was ready to take on Kvar at that moment, but they still had to travel for about three weeks until they would reach the Desian Ranch. The three weeks of traveling seemed to take much longer than before. During the first two weeks the group talked a lot with each other and looked for distractions. Dean focused on getting even stronger in the time he had left until they would reach Kvar. The sparring moments with Lloyd often got heated as both of them gave it their all as they faced each other. Kratos seemed satisfied with the results. It was impossible for Dean to learn how to do healing magic in this kind of situation. Clearing his mind was really hard to do, almost nearly impossible. Although he seemed restless, Kratos had no problem with using the healing magic. The things the mercenary could do seemed impossible. It was like he had already lived a full human life and had used that time to perfect his fighting and magic skills. When Kratos had that murderous look in his eyes, he seemed terrifying. The last week of travelling was different. Everyone was tensed and seemed to prepare for the battle in their way. Colette and Genis stuck together a lot, as they were the only ones who didn't want to really kill someone with their bare hands. The two of them were still innocent. The fire that was in Lloyd's eyes the time the group had left Hima hadn't gone away for a bit. Normally the excitement and motivation of the boy in red would disappear in a couple of hours, but it was different this time. The group didn't stop at Luin. They didn't want to look at the destroyed town again. They had to guide the prisoners of the ranch somewhere after the ranch was destroyed, but that was a problem they would face then. Finally the group reached the ranch. Sheena helped them to move with stealth towards the place where they would be able to get in.

"So this is it." Dean said as they reached the boulder that seemed a bit unnatural. The boulder seemed to be blocking some kind of entrance, but you would only notice this if you paid good attention to the boulder. The boulder somehow made sure that people wouldn't notice it.

"Let's try moving it." Raine said. She grabbed the jewel they received from Pietro. Lloyd was impatient and tried to push it away.

"It's no good. It won't budge." the boy in red said as he stopped trying to push the boulder.

"Let's try to use this jewel instead. There seems to be some slot where we can insert it around here." Raine said as he looked closely at the boulder. She put the jewel somewhere inside the boulder. Nothing happened though. She pulled the jewel away again. This time the boulder moved sideways on its own, revealing the secret entrance.

"But when I pushed it, it didn't budge." Lloyd said, somehow disappointed that he couldn't move the boulder.

"Only a fool would try to move a huge boulder like that." Kratos said to him. The mercenary was really on edge right now.

"Let's go." Dean said to make sure the boy in red and the mercenary wouldn't start bickering. They couldn't afford to make a scene in enemy territory. The group entered the Desian Ranch with Sheena leading the way. She would move ahead a bit and warn the group if there were enemies in the neighbourhood. The group was take on the Desians in surprise and try to take them out without making too much noise. They would hide the bodies and wipe away the blood they left behind. This way the enemies wouldn't know they were coming. Kratos had explained that there were things called 'cameras' installed inside the ranch. The cameras were some kind of eyes, some machinery that would spot the group. These eyes would show what they saw on a projector. Whenever Dean saw these cameras he would use lightning magic to disable them. He wouldn't completely destroy them. They tried to avoid these cameras, but it was hard to do. The enemy now knew that something was wrong, but they couldn't figure out what was. The group continued like this and reached the control room. This was the room where they had run into Kvar the last time. Raine walked towards one of the machines and started to work on it. She soon brought up a map.

"This is the map of the ranch." The Professor explained as she pressed all sorts of buttons. She somehow seemed to know how to operate the device. Above the device there appeared an image of a map. The whole ranch was quite big. Dean studied the map closely.

"Professor, you're fantastic!" Lloyd said to Raine. He clearly was excited about the part that Raine was able to use the device.

"Hm, so there are people on this side who can operate machines too…" Sheena muttered to herself.

"On this side?" Genis asked Sheena. Those words revealed quite a lot to Dean. His suspicions were getting confirmed a bit by a bit.

"Ah, um, nothing. Just talking to myself." Sheena answered the elf boy. Nobody else paid attention to her. The rest of the group focused on the image of the map that was before them.

"This is where we are now." A room started blinking on the map. They seemed to be in the middle of the ranch, somewhere at the bottom. Raine pushed some more buttons and read the information that appeared on the device.

"And this is where Kvar should be." On the upper left side of the map the room there started to blink. "It appears that in order to get to the floor that Kvar is on, we'll have to deactivate the guard system." The elf woman continued to explain.

"Guard… system?" Colette asked.

"Here." Raine said as another room on the west side of the map started to blink. It was the room right below the room Kvar would be in.

"It seems that they are expecting us. If they felt safe, they wouldn't have activated the guard system of the ranch. This whole place is filled with machinery that I don't understand though." Dean said.

"You're right." Kratos agreed.

"So how do we deactivate this guard system?" Genis asked his sister.

"There should be a switch somewhere to deactivate the system." Raine pushed some more buttons and thought for a while. "Here it is." The room on the east side of the map started to blink. The room had a fork in it which led to the left and the right. On the left and the right side of those rooms there were two switches that needed to pushed in order deactivate the guard system.

"See the two switches at the ends of this left-right passageway? Those are the deactivation switches." Raine explained.

"Okay, then, let's go deactivate it." Lloyd then said. Dean now noticed something.

"Wait a minute… The rooms that lead to deactivate the guard system are on the right side of the map and Kvar's room is on the left side of the map. If we would want to go to Kvar we first have to go to the room the farthest to the right and then back to the room farthest to the left. That will take a while…"

"Yes, you're right." Raine then said. "But that's not all. The conveyor belt leading towards to the room to Kvar prevents passage. We have to stop the conveyor belt control mechanism, but…" Raine thinks for a moment. "it seems that it's constructed in such a way that you can't get close to the control mechanism while containers are on the conveyor… Let's see, in order to adjust the container dispatch control system we first have to go to this upper room…" Suddenly an alarm sounded for a while. "Dammit. They've detected my access of the main computer."

"Then the Desians will be here in a minute. We'll have to decide what to do now." Dean said. He already put his hand on the grip of the sword, ready to draw it any time.

"Dammit…" Lloyd said.

"It looks like we don't have any choice. Let's split into two teams to deactivate the system and to infiltrate Kvar's room. The deactivation team will deactivate the guard system. The infiltration team will stop the conveyor belt system and then head towards Kvar to stop him. The deactivation team will also come across the rooms where the prisoners are held. They will help the prisoners escape."

"It seems that splitting up seems to be the wisest choice." Kratos said.

"Colette, you're the Chosen One. You choose for us who will go where." Raine said to Colette.

"What? Me? Um…" Colette didn't know what to do. She glanced at Lloyd and me and then seemed to make a decision. "I'll let Dean choose. He tells us what to do in battles, he'll make a great choice."

"Seems fine to me. I'll pick the teams." Dean started to think for a short while.

"We don't have much time. Please choose now." Raine said to him.

"I know. The deactivation team needs manpower since the Desians here are though. Okay. Sheena, Colette and Raine will be in the deactivation team. Sheena can take the Desians up close. Raine can act as the healers and Colette can use her chakrams and angel magic from a distance. You three should be fine. Lloyd, Kratos and Genis will join me to chase Kvar. Kratos will be our healer, Genis will be our magic user, Lloyd will fight Kvar up close and I will fight Kvar with my sword and magic skills. I'll also use my magic support everyone."

"That seems a well-thought set-up." Raine said. "Okay. You three first need to go to that room…" Raine pointed at the room in front of us. "… in order to deactivate the conveyor belt system. Then go to this room to the left and follow it until you will reach Kvar. You may need to do more in order to reach the room that leads to Kvar's room." Raine quickly explained.

"Okay. That's for the information. Let's go guys." Dean said to the ones who would join him. "You three be careful, don't underestimate the Desians." He warned the rest as he went into the room where they would deactivate the conveyor belt. In this room the Exspheres were attached to huge blocks. Machines with arms were storing the Exspheres in this room. There were a few Desians in this rooms patrolling it. They seemed to be on their guard, but they didn't pay enough attention. Dean, Genis and Kratos took the Desians out from a distance. At the end the room there seemed to be some kind of control panel.

"If we stop this, we can prevent that the prisoners will be turned into Exspheres." Lloyd said.

"Leave this machinery to me." Kratos said as he pushed some buttons. After a while a voice could be heard from the machine.

"Shutdown in progress…. Shutdown complete."

"Okay, that's step one." Dean said. "Let's move on to the other room." The group left the room. Before they went into the next room Dean noticed a machine he knew very well. "Wait. This machine. It has the ability to heal our wounds and restore our mana. Let's use it. It will only take a minute of our time." Dean explained to the rest of the group. He examined the machines, figured out which buttons he needed to press. This was the machine the Desians used to heal his wounds when he was a prisoner. After his wounds were healed, the Desians would continue with their torture on him. He hated the machine in the past. Now he was grateful he knew about it. The group head into the machine. They then felt a warm light surrounding them and heading into their bodies. Any wounds they still had were now getting healed and Dean could feel that his mana was getting restored. After some time the warm feeling disappeared and the group left the machine. They felt refreshed and headed into the next room they needed to go. This room was the room where all the conveyor belts were. The last time the belts had been filled with Exspheres, but now they were empty. A lot more Desians were patrolling in this room and the group was spotted immediately. They had to fight of the Desians.

"Flame Strike!" Dean shouted as he unleashed the sword arte he had learned. Using his mana he infused his sword with the element of fire. His sword would literally catch on fire for a short while. He would use this time to strike an enemy with his sword. Dean could easily cut through armour using this attack and if the enemy would block the attack with a weapon or shield, that weapon or shield would get damage from the heat of the attack. The flames didn't hurt Dean as he was the one used the attack. Many of the Desians fell to the sword of Dean like this. Genis used magic from a distance to take out the magic users and crossbowmen. Dean had cast a Barrier on Genis, so that the arrows couldn't hurt Genis for a short while. In a matter of minutes all of the Desians in the room were dead. Due to the training Lloyd, Dean and Kratos did every morning they weren't tired at all. Genis seemed to be fine as well. "Let's move on before reinforcements arrive." Dean said to the group. They continued along the room, but then they couldn't go on after a moment.

"The conveyor belt is still running. The flow is going against us. We'll have to either stop the conveyor belt or run against the force of this conveyor belt in order to reach the room where Kvar is." Kratos explained.

"I don't think I can reach the other side. Running isn't my strongest point." Genis said to the rest of the group.

"Then how do we stop the conveyor belt?" Lloyd asked.

"Let's take a look around the room." Dean said calmly. The conveyor belts were running throughout the whole room, but there was one point where a big machine was running. "Take a look at that machine. I bet that one is powering these belts."

"How do we stop it then?" Lloyd asked.

"Leave that to me." Dean said as he began to gather mana. "Thunder Blade!" A huge blade made out of electricity formed in the sky and came crashing down on the machine. Dean let the blade of lightning explode thus destroying the machine. The conveyor belts stopped and came to a stop.

"Try force, huh?" Lloyd commented.

"Yep." Dean said. They now could cross the conveyor belt without any effort. After walking for a little bit they reached the room where the guard system was. There were a couple of Desians on guard here as well, but the group overwhelmed them. At the end of the room there was one of those warp panels. This one would lead them to Kvar. The group tried to use it, but it didn't work.

"I guess we have to wait until the guard system is deactivated." Dean then said.

"I hope the others are okay." Genis said worried.

"Don't worry about it. They'll be fine." Lloyd tried to encourage his friend. The group tried to relax for a little bit until they could use the warp panel. After a few minutes the warp panel flashed. It seemed that it was activated now.

"It's time. Let's go." Kratos said as he stepped on the warp panel and disappeared. Dean, Lloyd and Genis quickly followed. In the room where the group appeared Kvar was talking to an image of a beautiful, yet deadly looking woman. The room looked almost exactly the same as the control room of Magnius.

"I've found you, Kvar!" Lloyd shouted to Kvar and he ran towards the Desian Leader. Dean approached the man carefully. Kratos stayed with Lloyd, making sure he wasn't making any stupid moves. Genis stayed in the magic, already readying his magic. Dean gathered around mana already as well in order to use supportive magic on the team as soon as the battle began. Kvar didn't pay any attention to the group.

"So, this is Lloyd." The image of the woman spoke. The woman had a ring of gold floating around her. She had limegreen hair, purple make-up on her face and a golden crown-like thing on her head. She was wearing a red upper bodysuit, but her legs were exposed. She had some strange red markings on her legs and was wearing socks that reached over her knees. There seemed to be magic spells woven throughout her whole attire. She was also wearing a gold necklace with a green orb in it. "I see, he does bear a resemblance." The woman continued talking. Kvar now turned to the group.

"So, you've come." Kvar turned to the group, but then turned back to the woman again. "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't change the subject Pronyma! It's clear you've been stealing research data from my Angelus Project." Kvar said to the woman named Pronyma in an angry voice.

"I grow tired of your accusations Kvar. As I have told you, I know nothing of it." Pronyma answered by irritated. She clearly was tired about talking of this subject.

"Subborn woman. I suppose I should expect no less from one who usurped the leadership of the Five Grand Cardinals. Take heed, Pronyma. Once I retrieve the Exsphere from this inferior being, I will become the leader of the Five Grand Cardinals. When that happens, you'll be begging for my forgiveness." Kvar continued. It seemed like the man could already see the scene he had just descriped in his head.

"You speak nonsense, Kvar. I've also heard that Rodyle has talked you into joining him in one of his schemes, but it would be best not to believe that you can deceive Lord Yggdrasill for long." Pronyma warned the man. The image of Pronyma then disappeared. Kvar now faced Dean and the others.

"So the Mana Cannon is no longer a secret. Well, it doesn't matter. Once I succeed in retrieve that Exsphere, my suspicions I might have been under will be but a distant memory." Kvar then took out a staff. There were several Exspheres attached to the staff in order to give it more abilities. With the staff Kvar called forth three purple machines that appeared from nowhere.

"Get ready!" Kratos said.

"You're not gonna take this from me!" Lloyd shouted angrily and he rushed towards Kvar.

"Field Barrier!" Dean shouted as he put a barrier on everyone on the team.

"Eruption!" Genis shouted as he unleashed one of his spells. Right under one of the purple floating machines hot lava made from mana erupted, melting the machine away. Lloyd and Kratos crossed their sword with Kvar. Kvar unleashed an attack called Lightning Strike from his staff as soon as the boy in red and the mercenary came close. The two of them had to dodge the attack. The two machines then headed towards to the two fighters and shock them with electricity. Lloyd tried to attack the machine with his swords, but he was electrocuted as soon as the sword hit the machine. Dean quickly rushed towards the two fighters, while he was gathering mana. Gathering mana was beginning to become a natural thing for him.

"Spark Wave!" Kvar shouted as he unleashed his magic. A ball of electricity appeared at the spot where Dean was running.

"Thunder Shield!" Dean shouted in return as a shield made of electricity surrounded him. The shield absorbed the lightning of the Spark Wave, making sure that Dean was hurt by that spell. Kvar grin disappeared as Dean ran through the spell without getting hurt. Dean reached Lloyd first. The purple machine was still shocking the boy in red. Lloyd was defenceless against it.

"Flame Strike!" Dean shouted as his flaming sword sliced right through the machine. Lloyd still fell to the ground, unable to move due to the electricity overloading his nervous system. He wouldn't be able to move for a minute.

"Air Trust!" Kvar now shouted. Kvar was facing Genis now. The elf boy quickly jumped back in order to avoid the spell however. He had almost finished preparing for a spell however and had to start over again now. Dean now rushed towards the machine that was tormenting Kratos. The mercenary was holding up a magic shield in order to protect himself, but he didn't have the room to do anything else. Dean used the same attack to finish of the machine.

"Kratos! Please use your healing magic on Lloyd. That machine hit him hard." Dean ordered the mercenary around.

"My mana getting low already because of that machine. I'm sorry, I was careless." the mercenary responded.

"Don't worry about it. Can you still act as a healer?" Dean asked the man in purple.

"That I can do. I'll help you in a minute." The two of them then had to jump back in order to dodge an incoming lightning attack from Kvar.

"I can't have you two chatting like that. Prepare to die you inferior beings!" Kvar said mockingly to them, trying to intimidate them. Kratos began to prepare his healing spell. Dean ran towards Kvar while he was gathering mana. Kvar tried to hit him with the Lightning Strike as well, but Dean used his Lightning Shield to counter the attack.

"Wind Gale!" Dean send out a shockwave of wind towards the Desian Leader. Kvar dodged the attack. Then Dean and Kvar tried to attack each other at close range. Even though the Leader seemed more like a magic user, he still could fight very well with his staff. Dean was putting pressure on him though.

"Guardian Field!" Kvar shouted. A huge circle surrounded the area around Kvar and Dean and rays of mana were coming from the ground, where a big magic circle could be seen.

"Guardian!" Dean put a magic shield around him to guard him against this attack. It drained his magic however. After the attack was over Dean put a big Barrier on himself. It was time for him to finish this fight and it wouldn't work like this. He infused his body with the element of wind. Dean moved much faster than before and the Barrier made sure his body could take the improved movement speed. Dean dodged and blocked the attacks from Kvar and he circled around the man, facing him from the side.

"Flame Strike!" Dean tried to hit Kvar with a flaming sword, but the man blocked the attack. Dean wasn't done though. "Wind Gale!" The shockwave of wind hit the man now. "Lightning Blade!" The sword of Dean damaged the upper guard of Kvar and made cracks in it. A bolt of lightning then hit the man, stunning him for a moment. Lloyd then came rushing over from behind.

"Tiger Rage!" Lloyd shouted as he unleashed one of his artes. He slashed and jumped upwards, launching Kvar into the sky, hitting him again in the sky with his sword and then smashed him back to the ground with a downward slash. Then came Kratos and Kvar was wide open now.

"Demon Fang. Lightning Blade. Hell Pyre!" Kratos unleashed one of his deathly combinations on Kvar, completely destroying the armour of the man and inflicting heavy damage on the man. Kvar was still standing, heavily injured.

"Air Trust!" Genis unleashed a wind spell of slicing gusts of wind, finishing Kvar of. The Grand Desian Cardinal fell to the ground.

"I did it, Mom. You've been avenged!" Lloyd said as he looked at his Exsphere. As soon as the fight had ended Colette, Raine and Sheena appeared. Dean was breathing heavily. The battle had cost him almost all of his mana. His body was undamaged though. All of the members of the Chosen's group were now complete again. Colette approached Lloyd.

"We found out where Chocolat was taken." Colette said to Llold.

"Really?" Lloyd said in surprise. Dean could see him smiling in relief. Then Colette noticed something behind Lloyd. Kvar was standing again. Dean wanted to use one of his spells, but he didn't have enough mana anymore. He was too slow to react to the next thing. Kvar tried to attack Lloyd, but Colette pushed him away and she was attacked in the back. The clothing on her back was ripped to pieces and a huge wound could be seen. Dean ran towards the blond girl and caught her as she fell.

"Colette!" Dean shouted worried. The girl looked up and looked at his face.

"Is Lloyd alright?" was all the blond girl asked. Dean knew she couldn't feel any pain, but still this was too much.

"Yes. He is. You stupid girl!" Tears were flowing from the eyes of Dean of concern. Kvar tried to get away from the scene. Sheena appeared in a screen of smoke out of nowhere. It was one of her 'ninja' tricks.

"You bastard!" Lloyd shouted as he run towards Kvar and trusted his sword through the stomach of the Desian Leader. Kratos also trust his sword right through the man. The man staggered a bit back, but still wasn't dead.

"Kratos… You pathetic, inferior being!" Kvar said in rage.

"Feel the pain…" Kratos slashes once more at Kvar. "… Of those inferior beings…" Kratos cut once more through Kvar, truly slicing him apart. Kvar truly fell on the ground this time. "… as you burn in hell." Kratos had taken out all of his rage in that attack. Dean was still holding Colette in the meantime. She was standing a bit more steady on her feet right now.

"Colette! That wound…" Raine said, scared to speak any more.

"Colette, hang on!" Genis said with despair in his voice.

"Colette! Your wound…" Lloyd said with concern in his voice.

"Thanks for worrying about me, but I'm really okay." Colette said as she releashed herself from the arms of Dean. "For some reason, it doesn't hurt. Hehe, strange, huh?" The blond girl was trying to convince everyone she was okay even though there was blood dripping from her back on the ground.

"You certainly are not okay!" Sheena then said. "Raine, you can use healing arts, right?!" The ninja tried to put people into action.

"Yes, but!" Raine tried to say.

"Colette. I can't keep it a secret any longer!" Lloyd then said. Dean knew what he was going to say. The others should have to know right now. It was the only explanation for this scene. "Everyone, listen to what I have to say. Colette can no longer feel anything." Lloyd continued to say.

"What? What do you mean?" Genis asked confused.

"Colette is growing closer to becoming an angel. Now, she can't sleep or feel hot or cold or pain or anything. She can't even cry. Becoming an angel means losing her humanity!" Lloyd said with great concern in his voice.

"Lloyd, it's okay. I'm okay, so… Right now, we need to do something about this ranch. Right Lloyd?" Colette was once again trying to convince the rest that nothing was wrong. Dean managed to clear his thoughts and use the spell Healing Wind in order to slightly heal the wound and make the bleeding stop. This took away the rest of his mana though. Dean was getting a dizzy because he was exhausted.

"Professor, can you destroy it like last time?" Lloyd asked Raine.

"I'll give it a try." the elf woman responded.

"That's kind of extreme, but I suppose it is the best idea." Sheena then said a bit shocked. After The Professor pushed some buttons the group left the ranch. They took the prisoners with them and exited the ranch. After the alarm rang for the self-destruct all of the Desians had fled. They were able to escape the ranch with ease through the main entrance. After the group was outside the ranch they set up camp at a place where the explosion of the ranch wouldn't reach them.

"We need to let Colette rest." Dean said as he nearly collapsed himself. The dizziness had increased and he was barely standing on his feet now.

"Are you okay?" Sheena asked him. "You don't look well."

"I used up my mana. I just need a bit of rest." Dean said with a weak voice. He tried to sit down, but he lost conscious. It turned all black in front of his eyes and he was gone.

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><p><strong>OC Dean helped the party defeat Kvar! The fight with Kvar is always a pain in the ass in the game. Lightning is an awesome element, but damn it hurts if it hits you. Fortunately I have never been hit by lightning before. <strong>

**So what happened to OC Dean? Find out the next chapter.**


	10. Recovering from the Fever

**Well... This chapter... I never intended for things to happen in this chapter this way, but things just came out like this. I wanted to push the story forward and not delay it... I guess I did delay it with this whole chapter. The story decided that this was necessary. I had no saying in it.  
><strong>

**Still, enjoy it! It is a good chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. If I did, both Zelos and Kratos would be able to participate in the final fight.**

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><p><em>Darkness surrounded him. There was no light, no sounds, no vibration, no warmth or cold, no pain, no life. Nothing. Still he was floating. Images appeared one after another. Images that showed that he was being tortured, images of him in pain, images of him in battle, images of him in a peaceful village, images of him in love. Images of his life. They all flashed by from everything direction is this strange dark floating place. These images continued to flash by. Slowly the darkness and the images faded away and were replaced by the view as seen from someone eyes, the view from his eyes. He was in a lovely green field with grass and wild flowers all around him. A mountains could be seen from the distance. Creatures that looked like monsters, but weren't monsters could be seen on the ground and in the sky, although their numbers were few. Everything was peaceful. Warmth filled his hearth and he felt at peace. He closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again he was in a big room filled with all kind of machines around. A man with grey hair and a blue upper bodyguard was looking at him with his cold blue eyes. His hands were covered in blood. Before him lay a blond girl with white boots, blue pants and a light blue vest. She was lying on her back. Her back wasn't the colour of her light blue vest, but red. The colour of blood. The girl was dead. He closed his eyes again for a moment. When he opened them again he was looking at his hands. His hands now were covered in blood and the blond girl was now standing before him, covered in her own blood with wounds all over her body.<em>

"_Why did you kill me?" the girl asked._

"_Why did you do that?" the girl asked another question._

"_Why did you murder me even though you're in love with me?" Colette asked him. The blond Chosen slowly walked towards him._

"_Why? Why?" The girl was almost near him. "Why? Why? WHY?!" The girl was now trying to strangle him with her hands as she stood right in front of him. In order to survive he cut the girl in half with his sword. A psychopathic smile could be seen on the face of the girl. Then he could see himself smiling, but the smile was the same as the one of the girl._

"Aaaaaaaaaaah!" Dean woke up screaming. Tears were flowing from his face and he was breathing hard. His body was covered in cold sweat. He looked at his hands and saw that there was no blood on it. He put his arms around his body and rocked forth and back in a slow pace. "It was a dream. It was a dream. It was a dream." Those were the words he kept saying to himself, but he wouldn't calm down. He just kept on crying, trying not to lose himself in despair. The sound of footsteps could be heard from a distance that kept on coming closer. Then someone held him close to himself and Dean now cried even more than before. The embrace went on for a while, until Dean stopped crying and seemed to calm down a bit.

"Are you alright now?" A woman's voice asked him.

"A bit better… Thank you." Dean answered. His eyes were closed now and he didn't recognise the voice of the woman.

"It's alright now. Go back to sleep." The woman lay Dean on his back and as soon as he touched the ground he fell asleep again.

_Dean was walking alone. It was night and he used the light of the stars to guide him. The others were walking in front of him and he was trying to catch up, but the more he tried to walk up to them he still was getting farther away from them. He was running now, but the others had reached out of sight and he was running all alone. Howls and groans of monsters could be heard faintly at first. Sounds of creatures coming closer could be heard all around him, yet he could not see anything. He tried to reach for his sword, but he was unarmed. His magic wasn't working as well. There was no Exsphere on his hand. He was powerless before the creatures that were getting closer and closer. Afraid he ran away as fast as he could, but they were getting closer. He could hear the footsteps of the monsters behind him. He could hear their breathing getting closer. He could feel their breath against his skin. He kept on running and running, but then he tripped and fell down. He just kept on falling and falling and falling and…_

Dean woke up again. His body was once again covered in sweat. His head was burning like crazy and his whole body screamed out in pain. He tried to move, but it hurt so much and his body was listening to his commands. He tried to speak, but nothing came out. His throat was dry and longed to be filled with fluid.

"Wa… Wa… Water." Dean stammered out. He nearly didn't make any noise. He started to cough. This seemed to attract someone close to him. Dean could feel his head getting lift up as someone was giving him something to drink. He greedily drank all of it. His sight was blurry and he couldn't see who was taking care of him. Dean fell back to sleep again, but this time there were no dreams.

Dean could feel something soft beneath him. The floor beneath him was moving. Dean slowly woke up and sat up right. The floor beneath him was fur. He was riding something. He could hear the whining that sounded like something like a dog. He stroke the fur, the creature he was riding. He recognised this creature. This was Noishe, the 'dog' that belonged to Lloyd, but why was he riding him. They send the creature back to Iselia, back to Dirk because the journey was too dangerous for Noishe. The 'dog' was scared of monsters and was more of a bother than a reliable animal. What was he doing here and why was Dean riding him.

"So you've woken up again?" A man's voice could be heard next to Dean. Dean looked to his right and saw Kratos walking next to him.

"Kratos? How? What?" Dean tried to formulate a decent question, but the words didn't come out right. His head felt heavy and warm. He wasn't feeling well at all.

"You've had a fever for quite some time now. You all scared us when he fell unconscious just like that." Dean tried to remember the last thing he had done. They had infiltrated the Desian Base around Luin. They had defeated Kvar, one of the Desian Grand Cardinals. Colette had gotten hurt badly when Kvar seemed not to be defeated just yet. Lloyd had explained to the group that Colette didn't feel anything anymore now that she was turning into an angel. After that they had fled the Base as it was set for self-destruct. Just outside the base Dean had fallen unconscious.

"Yeah. I remember now. How is Colette?" Dean asked out of concern for the girl.

"The Chosen is doing fine. Raine managed to heal her wounds just fine after we set up camp. We're now on the way to Asgard. We're leading the people who were prisoners at the Desian Base to a safe town." The mercenary kept explaining.

"I see…" was the only thing Dean could say to that. "Then how come Noishe is here? Wasn't he supposed to be in Iselia?"

"Noishe seems to have followed us all the way here. He survived in the wild just fine until now. The night of the day that we blew up the ranch a huge beast suddenly jumped on Lloyd out of nowhere. We thought it was a monster a first, but it was Noishe greeting his master." Kratos explained.

"Wait? What? Noishe did that? Wow…"

"Yes, it was quite a surprise." There was a silence then. The Professor who was walking a bit ahead looked behind and saw that Dean was sitting upright. She slowed her pace and walked besides them.

"Ah Dean, you're awake and finally to your senses. How are you feeling?" the silver haired healer asked him.

"My head feels heavy just like the rest of my body. I don't know whether I'll be able to walk for the rest of the day. How long did I have a fever?"

"For quite some time. Almost for a whole week. The fever wouldn't go down. We were lucky that Noishe arrived or else we would have been stuck there. We're halfway Asgard now. We're getting low and water and supplies. I hope we'll be able to get to Asgard in one piece like this. Most of the people that had been imprisoned can't walk all day. They didn't eat proper meals at the Human Ranch, but I guess you know all about that, don't you?" Dean just nodded. It would get a though journey if things will continue like this. "It will be a big help if you're back on your feet again. We really need someone else who can help hunting." The Professor continued. "Just rest for the time being. I'll going back to the front. I'll tell the others you're awake." With that the woman walked back to the front of the group. Now that Dean looked around he could see a lot of people he hadn't seen before walking around. He, Noishe and Kratos seemed to be at the back of the group.

"Shouldn't you be at the front of the group?" Dean asked Kratos when he noticed this.

"We've had a lot of monsters that attacked us from the back. I'm needed here in the back. Noishe seems to like me, so he's keeping me company here. It's also easier for me that keep an eye on everything from here." the mercenary answered.

"It's been quite rough if I hear it like this."

"Yes, this last week hasn't been easy, but we'll be alright. I think the people of Asgard will reward us greatly if they hear from us that the Human Ranch in this area has been destroyed. I just hope the people we freed can find a place in the city."

"Yes. I hope so too." The group was now getting to a stop. It seemed they were taking a short break for now. The people seemed tired and sat down on the ground. Dean wanted to stretch his legs in the meantime. Kratos helped him get off from Noishe. Dean was a bit unstable at his feet in the beginning, but as he tried to take one step at a time walking went better and better. After a while he was walking around freely. The most of his friends were helping the people from the Human Ranch. Most of them were in a really bad shape. Dean couldn't find Sheena, she didn't seem to be around. He walked around for a bit and helped the people who couldn't drink on their own anymore. In their eyes hope was shining through. All of them had thought that the Human Ranch would have been the place where they would die. It was nice to see that they now were clinging onto life again, not ready to die just yet. After walking around for a bit Dean was getting a bit dizzy again, so he walked back to Noishe again. Colette was around the strange animal as well.

"Dean!" Colette almost shouted as she saw that he was walking around again. She ran towards him and gave him a big hug. The force almost made sure that Dean fell to the ground. "I'm so glad you're alright. I was so worried."

"It's okay Colette. I was just a little bit ill. That's all." Dean tried to shrug at all off like it was nothing.

"It was not okay. Your fever was really intense and wouldn't go away. You really had me worried." She had stopped with the hug and was now holding his hands. She looked so cute and beautiful with the worried face she was now making. Dean's heart made a jump.

"I bet you were looking after me at night. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Besides, it's not like there was anything else I could do. I can't sleep anymore. Looking after you was the only right thing to do."

"Still, you looked after me so much. Thank you."

"Oh, The Professor looked after you a lot too. She was looking really worried. She used some of her mana to restore yours, but the fever wouldn't go away even after that. Her healing artes didn't help as well. She was really flustered that she didn't know the reason why you were so sick and she couldn't help you. Thank the Goddess that you're okay now."

"The Professor did all of that for me? I have to thank her later on." The group at the front started to move again. Dean got onto Noishe again as he was too weak to walk for a longer period of time. Like that the group went on towards Asgard again. "How are you doing Colette? Is the wound on your back gone?" Dean asked the blond girl.

"Oh, I'm okay." There was no fake giggle this time. "It's kind of hard to look after the people from the Ranch, but it's also fun to do. The Professor healed my back. She said that you already healed my back for a bit, so thank you for that."

"I couldn't just leave you like that."

"Still… It's weird. Everyone says my back was fully open and the wound looked really awful, but I couldn't feel anything. Sure I almost collapsed after I got hit, but it still didn't hurt… It's really strange." Sadness was filled in her eyes. Dean wanted to make that sadness go away…

"It must still be hard for you. I can't imagine what it's like not to be able to sleep, not to taste anything and not to feel anything. I love all those senses and although not sleeping sounds like a good thing, I really like to sleep." Dean tried to imagine what it was like, but he couldn't.

"It just means that I'm becoming an angel…" Colette said with a soft voice.

"You're doing it for the World Regeneration. You're our saviour. You were given this task by the Goddess Martel. And even if you turn into an angel, you're still you Colette. You'll still be a very important person for me."

"Thanks Dean. That means a lot for me." They talked a bit more about what happened during the time Dean was passed out due to his fever. Genis and Lloyd came checking on him as well. They both looked tired as well. All of his friends were doing their best. Dean wanted to help the people as well, but he knew he was still too weak to help. He made sure he rested enough. He fell asleep for short periods of time while riding Noishe. Dean still hadn't seen Sheena. He wondered where she was. It was until night that he saw her. She immediately walked towards him as soon as she saw him. Her clothes were dirty and she looked even more tired than the rest of the group.

"Dean, you're awake. I'm so glad." the former assassin said to him.

"Hey Sheena. Where have you been? You look even worse than the rest of our group." This caused the woman to blush for a bit.

"Well yeah. I've been running around all over. I've been trying to keep the monsters out of the way. It's not that easily." Sheena sighed. "I'm really beat."

"I can understand that. Just enjoy dinner. I think Genis has been busy with that lately. Must be hard on the boy."

"Yeah. Keeping a group this big alive and fed is not an easy treat. I've been hunting whenever there was a possibility."

"I think I will help Genis. Even in my condition I can help with cooking." Dean said. He got to his feet and walked towards the spot where the cooking was done.

"I'm going to stay here and rest." Sheena said. She was sitting down and seemed to be unable to do anything else than that. She really looked tired. Genis was happy that he had an extra hand that could help. There were more people that were already helping with the cooking, but Genis seemed to be the chef and he decided what happened with the cooking. Dean was glad that he could help. The cooking took quite a long time, but they had to cook for quite a big group and they were travelling during the day, so they didn't have much time to cook and prepare everything. In the end everyone got their food and Dean was impressed Genis had cooked such a nice meal for so many people. Dean fell asleep when he had eaten.

The next morning Dean felt a lot better already. He couldn't help with guarding the group or with hunting, but he managed to walk most of the day. In the evening he helped again with the cooking. Time went by slowly, but steady. The day after that Dean woke up early like he usually did. He took over the guard from Lloyd, who was sleeping on guard. Colette stayed with him as well. They sat alone in the middle of a group of people in the open for a time. It was nice like that.

"I hope the people here will be able to find a place in Asgard." Colette whispered to Dean after a while. "The touristic site looked wonderful, but there still was a lot of poverty at the part of the town where the people lived."

"Yeah, that's right. I think the people here will be able to find a place in Asgard though. The area around Asgard was getting attacked by the Desians as well. The people of Asgard will be happy to take in the people after we tell them the Human Ranch in this area was destroyed. It might be hard for them in the beginning, but I think everything will work out all right."

"It's still terrible what happened at Luin." The blond Chosen looked down at the ground, her eyes were cast down and there was sorrow in her voice.

"It would be great if somehow we would be able to rebuild Luin. Then the people we freed here will have a place to return to." Dean tried to cheer the girl up by staying optimistic. So many horrible things had happened lately. Staying optimistic was the only thing the group could do.

"That would be great! I would personally help with rebuilding." The cheerfulness of the blond girl returned. "It's just that." Somehow she seemed to get sad again.

"What is it?" Dean asked the girl confused. The girl shook her head.

"No, it's nothing." She was hiding something from him. Dean was sure of this. They had promised to keep no more secrets from each other, but there was still something she would not say. She probably had kept it a secret for a long time now. Dean wanted put pressure on her, so she would tell him her secret, but he didn't want to fight with her. The boy swordsman opened his mouth, but said nothing.

"But don't worry about what will happen to the people here. We WILL make things turn out right."

"I guess you're right. Sorry for worrying you."

"That's okay." Dean responded. He smiled at her and this seemed to cheer Colette up. Slowly the sun was coming up now. It would take about a half an hour before it would be light. "I'm going out to hunt." Dean decided and he got up.

"Don't push yourself. You haven't recovered completely yet." Colette warned him.

"Don't worry. I will be alright." Dean grabbed his sword and a bag where he would be able to put his prey and the herbs in and he left the camp. He went into the woods and tried to sneak around as much as possible. He blended in with the nature itself, not a tiny twitch was broken under his feet and the monsters around him didn't notice him. He brushed some of the leafs on his skin and his clothes, so his smell would be the same as the woods he was roaming in. This way the monster wouldn't pick up his scent that easily. He didn't have any materials for traps with him and he didn't have to time to use them. He was forced to use his magic to take out his prey. A lot of the monsters in the woods were not eatable, so Dean could do nothing with those. He did find a lot of eatable plants and herbs. He gathered as much as he could, since they were with such a big group. Just when he decided to return to the camp even though he still hadn't caught any prey, a bear monster appeared in front of him. Both of them weren't expecting each other, so both of them were surprised. The bear let out a roar and got on his back feet. Dean had no time to cast any magic, dropped his bag on the ground and drew his sword. The bear was huge, his claws were sharp and his range was much bigger than Dean. The bear was much faster than Dean had expected. Dean was forced to defend and got some nasty scratches on his body. His clothes were ripped to pieces and some wounds to would become new scars were added to his chest. While Dean was on the defence he was gathering mana. At the end he was forced against a tree. It looked like Dean was finished and that this would be the end for him. The bear lunged forward in order to finish off his 'prey'.

"Thunder Shield!" Dean shouted as he created a sphere made out of lightning around him. The bear was shocked by the attacked and the force of the lightning flung his claws back. Dean took his chance and trusted his sword right into the chest of the bear, pulled his sword out and jumped sideways, ready to continue the fight. Blood was flowing out of the wound of the bear and it let out a roar of pain. The bear got on his four legs and wanted to ram him way into Dean. Dean couldn't evade the rushing slam of the bear.

"Flame Strike!" Dean slashed his flaming sword downward and cleaved the head of the bear into two. The body of the bear still had speed and momentum and Dean was still slammed into the ground by now dead monster. The body of the monster fortunately didn't land on him. Dean was now lying on the ground, panting and the sky was spinning all around him. The swordsman forced himself on his feet, still unsteady and walked towards the corpse of the bear. Slowly Dean skinned the monster, put away the organs and bones and cut off the eatable part of the monster which he lay on the skin of the beast. The hunter threw the non-eatable parts of his prey out of his sight and put all the eatable parts on the skin of the beast. Out of the skin he made a bag where the meat of the monster was. The hunter then took his bag and wanted to lift his newly made bear bag on his back, but collapsed under the weight of it. He had to take out some of the meat until he could carry the bag with him. The whole process took a long time as the hunter was in some kind of a daze or trance. He was wounded and sick, but still kept on going. He mind was blanc and he kept doing the things he had done so many times before in the past while he was hunting. Without thinking of his own safety Dean grabbed the things he had gathered, put his sword away and went back to the camp very, very slowly. It was fortunate for him that he nearly was out of the woods and didn't run into any other monsters. As soon as he was out of the woods Sheena ran towards him. She was about to enter the woods when Dean suddenly appeared out of the woods. The female assassin started to talk to Dean, but the words didn't come through the swordsman and were more like sounds. In the trance like he was he ignored her and kept on walking. Sheena was confused and called out to him some more. As he didn't respond she just followed the boy and kept a close watch on him. She managed to take over the heavy skin bag from him and the two of them slowly kept on going towards the camp. As Dean and Sheena walked into the camp the boy simply dropped the things he was holding on the ground, looked around for a bit and then fainted.

When Dean woke up again he was riding Noishe again. Kratos was walking next to him again. His head felt heavy and he was dizzy again. He let out a groan and forced himself to sit right up. Black spots reappeared in front of his eyes and he nearly fainted again, but at the end the spots disappeared and the boy could see again.

"Ugh. My head." Dean said as he let out another groan.

"So you're awake again." the mercenary just said with his usual neutral voice.

"I can't keep fainting like this. I'm making a fool out of myself." Dean said more to himself than to anybody else.

"Then rest." Kratos responded. "Let this be a good lesson for yourself. You pushed yourself way too much in the battle with Kvar. You used up almost all of your mana, infusing mana in your body had no effect at all. The whole fever you had was because you pushed yourself way too hard. This started in your everyday doing as well. You started with training in the morning with me and Lloyd, you travelled the whole day and you trained your magic in the evening. You took no rest. You were slowly wearing yourself out." Dean didn't know what to say. Kratos was clearly scolding him.

"I just wanted to get stronger as fast as possible." Dean said with a soft weak voice.

"I can understand that, but you were overdoing it. This time you didn't let yourself rest completely and went hunting even though you knew you weren't fully rested. You nearly got yourself killed during it as well and now you're back where you started."

"So don't help and rest?" Dean asked the man who was teaching him a lesson.

"If you don't rest and try to help anyway you will hinder yourself from recovering. So trust the others and rest." Dean tried to take the advice to his heart, but even though he was like this, he still thought he hadn't done anything wrong. Somehow Kratos noticed this. "Therefor, when you're all rested and fully recovered I'm going to make sure that you won't push yourself so much anymore. Knowing you, you will go on like you're used to and you will end up like this again. That's why you will only train with me and Lloyd in the morning. You will still train both your swordsmanship and magic. One day you will train your swordsmanship with me and Lloyd, the other day you will practise your magic while Lloyd and I are training. You will continue on like this." The look on the face of the mercenary said enough. Dean couldn't refuse on this. Dean just swallowed out loud and said yes. He was then told to sleep some more. Not wanting to get into an argument with the mercenary, he just lay down on Noishe again and closed his eyes. He was still feeling dizzy and fell asleep again. He didn't dream again. Until the group reached Asgard Dean wasn't allowed to do anything. Kratos was keeping a close eye on him and it gave Dean the creeps. He hadn't had any idea that the mercenary could be this scary. Raine was giving him the same treatment. Dean chatted with the rest of the people and his friends. Walked a bit more with each day and was allowed to help with the cooking. Dean longed to use his sword again, but he was still feeling weak. He now realised his mistake and he knew that Kratos and Raine were forcing him to rest, but the days went by really slowly like this. Dean was getting bored and if Lloyd and he were walking next to each other, the same bored look on their faces could be seen. Colette and Genis often made jokes about this during the travelling and they even said that with that look on their face, Lloyd and Dean looked like twins. Dean and Lloyd both disagreed with this and got 'angry' at their friends. They just played along with the game Genis and Colette were playing. At least, Dean was doing so. He wasn't sure this was the case with Lloyd. Lloyd was often saying that he was happy to be freed from the trainings in the morning with Kratos and Dean. They had training since that they were guiding the people from the ranch to Asgard. Looking after the people of the ranch was a big task and the group wasn't used to doing such a thing. Kratos was used to guiding and caring care of larger groups, but he was never alone while doing such a thing and not such a big group. In the end the whole group made it to Asgard without losing anyone, but everyone was exhausted and they had no supplies left. They were greeted by the guards. Kratos and Raine explained the situation to the guards. The two adults were guided towards the mayor of the city. The people of the ranch and the rest of the group were taken towards the several inns that were in Asgard. It was late in the afternoon and Dean was exhausted. His recovery took longer than expected and he was really shocked that he couldn't travel the whole day yet. He had been pushing himself to his limit and this was the price he had to pay for it. He went straight to bed in the room he was staying in. He was in the cheapest inn of Asgard, but lying on a bed instead of the hard ground was like heaven to him. He soon fell asleep.

"Wake up Dean!" a voice said to him. Someone was shaking him. Dean let out a groan and opened his eyes. The room was very bright and he put one of his hands in front of his eyes in order to shut the light away. "Hurry up Dean." the female voice continued to say.

"What's the matter?" Dean said as he let out a yawn. He was still way too tired and felt like sleeping again.

"Alice is gone! Come on Dean! Let's look for her!" Colette kept shaking him.

"Alright, alright. Tell me what happened first." Dean said as he slowly sat upright. He still had his clothes on. He had fallen asleep without taking them off.

"Like I said. Alice is gone. She is out there in the forest with the monsters again. We have to get her." Alice… Now that was a familiar name. Dean had trouble remembering where he was. The sleep still had him in his grasp. They had returned to Asgard with the people who had been imprisoned in the Human Ranch in the area around Luin. Alice was a young girl who could talk with monsters for some reason. The girl always wanted to play and saw no treat in anything. She was always covered in some kind of paint, which made her look like a sweet little demon.

"Where is Thomas?" Dean asked Colette as he got up. The blond Chosen was really worried and restless. Dean first needed to know more what happened. They couldn't just ran around without a plan.

"I don't know. Lloyd and Genis are at the weapon's shop right now. I came to get you first. I figured you would be worried as well and we can use all the help we could use." Colette responded. She then took his hand and dragged him outside of the inn and towards the weapon's shop. Dean was too tired to resist. It was the first time he had seen the girl he loved this flustered. His body still felt a bit heavy though and he really needed the rest. When the two of them arrived at the weapon's shop Lloyd and Genis were standing outside. They seemed to be in some kind of discussion.

"Then what do you think we should do?!" Genis shouted at Lloyd. The discussion seemed heated and the two of them were shouting at each other. "Just run outside of the village and look under each stone, trying to find her?"

"It's better than doing nothing!" Lloyd said back to his best friend.

"Guys, calm down! What happened? I heard from Colette that Alice is gone." Dean tried to gather some more information from his friends.

"Where is Thomas?" Colette asked immediately after Dean. Genis looked down at the ground and a painful expression appeared on the face of Lloyd.

"Thomas is…" Genis began, but stopped and shook his head.

"I'm sorry Dean. Thomas is… he's dead." Lloyd then said, unable to look Dean in the eyes. The news shocked Dean. It came as a blew to him. The man had been so kind to them the last time they were in Asgard. How could that man who loved his unique daughter be dead.

"What?" Dean first asked in disbelief. "What do you mean, he's dead? If this is a joke, it's not funny guys." Dean could see in the eyes of the boys and the way they told the news that it was no joke.

"No way." Colette said. She hadn't heard the news about it as well.

"Shortly after we left Asgard Thomas got sick. It was some kind of terrible disease and the doctors couldn't heal him. Around that time Alice seemed to leave the town and she hasn't returned until now. That's what the new shop keeper told us anyway." Genis explained the story to them in a soft voice. There were tears flowing down on his face. It was the same with Lloyd and Dean noticed that he was crying too.

"I can't believe he's gone." Dean said. "This is just too sudden…"

"We feel the same way." Lloyd said.

"We have to find Alice." Colette then said and she walked away.

"Colette! Wait!" Genis said to her. Dean ran towards the blond girl and stopped her.

"We can't just look for her. Who knows where she is." Dean tried to convince the girl that she just couldn't go out and look for Alice. He was worried about the girl as well, but just looking around wasn't going to work.

"But…" The girl tried to protest.

"How long is she gone?" Dean then asked Lloyd and Genis.

"Thomas has been dead for at least a week now. She left a couple of days before he died." Genis explained.

"I wonder why she would leave so suddenly?" Lloyd asked out loud.

"She was probably so worried about him and wanted to ask the monsters in the neighbourhood for help. Something must have happened." Dean thought out loud.

"Yeah. She's such a nice girl. She just wanted to help her daddy." Colette agreed.

"But if she's been gone for over a week, then she could be everywhere." Genis said. "I hate to say this, but there is a high chance we won't be able to find her."

"Do Kratos and Raine know?" Dean asked.

"No. They're still talking to the mayor of Asgard. We don't know how long it will take." Genis said.

"Then let's not bother them with this." Lloyd said. "Let's try to find Alice on our own. If we don't even try, we won't find her."

"Yeah. You're right…" Dean said with sadness in his voice. He looked at the ground as he thought. "Let's just look around in the area just outside of Asgard. We'll keep searching and be back at sunset. We need to be back in town when it's dark."

"Yes, let's do that!" Colette said enthusiastic. She wanted to do something rather than stand around and do nothing. Lloyd was the same. Genis and Dean both knew that it was probably a wasted effort to search for Alice, but Lloyd was right as well, if they didn't try the chance of finding were none already. The four of them split into two. Lloyd and Genis formed a couple and Dean and Colette formed the other couple. They searched the area outside of Asgard for quite some time. They watched the monsters from a distance, keeping an eye out for Alice. If the girl was safe, she would probably be with monsters. The monsters would keep her safe. Dean just hoped that the monsters knew what Alice needed to eat and she hadn't starved to death. In the end they couldn't find her. They met up with Lloyd and Genis at the entrance of the town. It was almost dark. They had wanted to use their time to the fullest. When Lloyd and Genis arrived at the entrance Alice wasn't with them. The four of them went back to the inn, heartbroken and sad. Dean was exhausted again. He excused himself and went to bed. When they saw how tired he was the others just wished him a good night. Dean quickly changed into his sleeping clothes and fell almost immediately into a deep, dreamless sleep when he was under the blankets.

The next morning everyone was still sad. Dean was really hungry and realised that the day before he hadn't had any dinner. Even though it was a poor inn breakfast was still served. Dean ate everything and even wanted more, but the soup and the bread he had gotten was all there was. His body felt a little bit less heavy this morning. The others weren't around. Dean stumbled into Kratos when he was looking for the others in town. The mercenary walked towards him and greeted him.

"Where are the others?" Dean asked the man.

"I was about to ask you the same thing. Raine is another inn and she is still sleeping. We had been talking with the mayor and the other important people of Asgard until late at night." Kratos explained to Dean. His voice was neutral as always and didn't betray anything of the outcome of all the talking.

"I see. So what's going to happen to the people we rescued from the ranch?" Dean asked since that Kratos didn't explain any more.

"The people of Asgard will take them in. Some of them will be taken to Palmacosta since that there are more people that the town can take in. We can stay in the town for as long as we want. They were thrilled to hear that the Human Ranch was destroyed. They even rewarded us for doing so. We were getting low on both cash and supplies, so it's really helpful. I myself didn't expect a reward, but we couldn't refuse and we need the money."

"That is great news. I had hoped something like this would happen." Dean was relieved that things had worked out so well.

"The people of Asgard will still face hardships from here on out. With all of those people there isn't enough food and supplies to support the town. Prices of food will go up and the people here won't be happy about the change. They might even start to blame the people for the food shortage. When next year comes more food will be planted and harvested, but until then things aren't going to be pleasant."

"I guess that that's the downside of this all. We rescued the people from the ranch and that's a great thing, but there probably isn't enough place and food for them."

"And then there the matter of the Exspheres. We'll have to send a message to Dirk again and ask if he can make Key Crests for all these people. That won't be cheap as well."

"Yeah, Dirk can't keep doing work for free." There was a silence for a while then.

"Let's search for the others together." Kratos then decided. "Do you have any idea where they could be?" the mercenary asked Dean.

"I hope they haven't left the town in order to search for Alice again." Dean answered.

"Look for Alice. Isn't Alice the girl that can talk to monsters?" Kratos asked Dean confused.

"Yeah, she is." Dean then explained the situation to Kratos. That Thomas, the previous owner of the weapon's shop, died from sickness and that Alice has disappeared from town just before the man died. He even said to the mercenary that they searched for her last night.

"I see. You do realise that the girl might be dead as well and that the chance of finding her is tiny?" the man in purple asked the boy.

"Yeah, we all realised that. We just couldn't sit around and do nothing. I just hope that they aren't so foolish to go outside of town and look for her again."

"That seems like a thing Lloyd and Colette would do. Genis would probably go along with them, even though he knows it is meaningless."

"Yeah… I know… Let's search around the town and ask where they are." They looked around town and asked the people if they had seen a boy in red, a blond girl and a silverhaired boy around. Most of the people hadn't seen them. Other people said that they had seen them running around town. When they went to the inn to ask the innkeeper if she knew anything, the three they were looking for were resting in the lobby.

"Dean! We came looking for you, but you weren't here." Lloyd said as he got up as soon as he saw Dean. The boy in red in red then also saw Kratos and his enthusiasm disappeared for some reason.

"Well, I looked around town looking for you guys as well. Kratos and I met up. I already told him about Alice."

"I see." Colette answered and she looked down to the floor.

"Give up on the girl." Kratos then said out of the blue.

"What?" Lloyd then ask.

"You heard me. You're wasting your energy." Kratos was using the same voice like always when he was arguing with Lloyd. When Dean sometimes looked at them arguing, they seemed like a father and a son fighting. The idea was absurd and Dean knew that, but it especially looked like that. "I understand that you're worried about the girl, but the girl could be dead and even if she's alive, you won't find her."

"You don't know that she's dead or that we won't find her." Lloyd said back angrily. "If we don't try, we'll definitely won't find her. I just can't keep still and do something." The worry was on his face.

"Even if you find her, she'll probably be with monsters. As far as I remember she sees those monsters as her friends and the monsters will want to protect her as well. If you want to take her back by force you'll be hurting her friends. And if you've found her and bring her back here, what then? Her father is dead and she no longer has a place to stay." Lloyd squeezed his hand together making a fist. He was biting his teeth together.

"Lloyd, Colette, I'm sorry, but I agree with Kratos. I want to help Alice as well, but we have no idea where to look. She could be anywhere. Even if we find her and she's with monsters, she'll probably want to stay with the monsters. We can't take her with us. Our journey is way too dangerous for a girl like that." Everybody looked sad and down. They all realised from the start that there was nothing they could do about it even if they searched for the little girl. It still hurts though.

"I know… It's just… Just leave me alone for a while." Lloyd said and went back to his room. Genis then said that he wanted to see his sister. Kratos told him where he could find her. Kratos said that he wanted to bring the news to the people they had freed from the ranch and had other things to take care off. Dean went back to his room as well. Colette asked if she could come with him. Dean didn't mind this. The two of them sat on the bed. Colette then put her head on Dean's shoulder. He grabbed her side so she wouldn't fall. She needed his comfort right now and he gave it to her like this. After a while she lay down on his lap. He stroke her hair as she was lying like that. She probably couldn't feel his hand going through her hair, but he felt like doing it.

"I hope Alice is okay." Colette then said, stating her worries.

"I hope so too, but I think she will be fine. Even if she little, she's strong. Besides, the monsters we came across last time really wanted to protect her and looked out for her. If she finds those monsters again, she will be fine."

"I guess so. I just wanted to see her and find out myself that she is really alright."

"I can understand your feelings. I feel the same way." Even though the both of them were sad and felt powerless, Dean was filled by love. When he looked at the blond Chosen, lying on his lap like this, he just couldn't help but be filled by feelings of love. He kept looking at her, admiring her beauty while he kept stroking her hair.

"I wish this Journey of Regeneration was over." Colette then suddenly said.

"Yeah… I can understand that you want to end all of this poverty and suffering. You probably want to feel things again. You'll be able to feel again, sleep again and taste things again when you become an angel, right?" Dean asked the girl, not knowing if she knew the answer.

"Yeah, probably… I really wish I could feel things at times like this. I'm trying to imagine what it feels like to be lying like that and having my hair stroked by you, but nothing comes to mind. At times like this it really is hard." Colette was really sad now. It almost sounded like she regretted starting this whole journey. The journey had changed her and she wasn't the only one who had changed. Everyone had changed, except for maybe Kratos. The journey had been full of hardships and they all had grown.

"I wish that I could take your pain away and give you back the ability to feel, but…"

"I know you can't. I'm not expecting you to. I'm sorry, I'm making you worry again."

"You don't have to apologise for things like that. Nobody knew that this was going to happen." Colette just nodded as she was lying there. There was a silence for a while as the both of them were deep into thought. "Can I ask you a weird question?" Dean asked after a while.

"Huh? A weird question? Sure…" Colette answered confused.

"I know that is not possible, but if and I mean if… If you knew before you started this whole Journey of Regeneration that with releasing each you would lose part of your humanity and that you would suffer like this, would you still go?" Dean asked the girl. The question had popped up in his mind. He probably already knew what she would answer though. There was a silence for a while as Colette was thinking.

"Even if I knew that this would happen, I would still go on the journey. I mean… The fate of the world is on my shoulders. I can't just say that I won't do it. It's a huge burden and I often wish that I wasn't born the Chosen, but at the same time I can end all of this suffering. If I have to endure all of this, just so that Sylvarant can live, then it's worth it. That thought feels me with happiness." The girl was forcing a smile again.

"I'm sorry for asking." Dean said as soon as he noticed the impact of his question on the girl he loves.

"Don't be. I'm happy that you're worried about me." There was a silence again. Then somebody knocked on the door and opened it.

"Dean? Kratos and Raine were asking you to meet them." Sheena said as she opened the door. "We're going to discuss our next step. Um…" The woman started blushing as she saw Dean and Colette. "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting." She quickly closed the door. Dean and Colette looked at each other, blinked and then started laughing.

"Tell them we'll be there shortly." Dean shouted back at the door.

"I'll… I'll tell them that." Sheena answered from beyond the door. After then loud footsteps of running could be heard from the hallways. Dean and Colette laughed a bit more.

"Let's go Colette." Dean said. The girl got to her feet.

"That was funny." Colette simply said as she walked towards the door and opened it. With smiles on their faces, having laughed off a bit of their sadness they went to the lobby of the inn. They met up with Sheena and Lloyd there and together they went to another inn, a more expensive one, where the group was meeting.

"So, what's the plan?" Lloyd asked when everyone was comfortably sitting on a chair that was in the guest room of the inn. There weren't any other guests in the room at that time, so they could speak out loud.

"The next plan is to go to the Tower of Mana." The Professor started to say. "According to Spiritua's Book that should be the next seal we are heading for. Also, Boltzman's Book which is needed to heal Pietro is located in the library of the Tower of Mana."

"Yeah, we need to heal Pietro as fast as possible." Sheena said worried about the man.

"The thing we should be concentrating on is when we should leave." Kratos then said.

"Why can't we leave tomorrow?" Dean asked and the whole group looked at him. He had forgotten that he still wasn't feeling well. "Oh, right…"

"To be honest, you're our best hunter Dean." The Professor said to him. "We need you at full strength. Since that Luin is destroyed, Hima is the city closed from here and Hima isn't a city with many supplies as well. We'll be able to buy our supplies here, but we'll need to go hunting every day from now on. The one who knows the most about which herbs to pick, which plants to eat and how to hunt for monsters… is you Dean."

"Hey… I use several books of mine to help me with the herb picking and the eatable plants as well. Sheena is a good hunter too, right?" Dean said back a little bit embarrassed.

"To be honest, I used most of your books while I was out hunting." Sheena confessed. "I honestly have no idea which plants to pick and which I shouldn't. I'm good at hunting for small prey, but those are enough for me alone and not for our entire group. When you went out hunting and came back with that kind of prey… I realised that you were a better hunter than me." All this praise was making Dean blush. He had learn how to hunt from an early age on, knew how to conceal himself and how to sneak up on his prey.

"Still the question stays how long until we can go." Lloyd said. The boy in red was thinking this through as well.

"To be frank… I have no idea." The Professor then said. "Even if Dean had been exhausting himself, he should be in a better state than he is right now. His recovery is taking longer than expected and the reason for this is unknown." The Professor was thinking hard.

"The main reason is because he used up most of his mana, right?" Kratos commented.

"Yes, but his mana should have returned by now." The Professor answered. "This doesn't seem to be the case. Charging him with mana doesn't work as well. We've tried that in the beginning."

"Then all we can do is wait…" Genis said as he sighed.

"I'm sorry everyone." Dean said.

"Hey. We need you alright? Don't be getting down because we can't go right away." Sheena tried to cheer him up.

"Sheena's right Dean. You just focus on getting better." Colette encouraged Dean as well.

"Well, now that's that settled, Raine and I have more talking with the locals to do. You behave." Kratos said and left the room with the Professor.

"Why is he so stuck-up all the time?" Sheena asked the rest of the group when the mercenary had left.

"We don't know either. I guess that's just the way he is." Lloyd explained.

"Yeah, it's hard getting a grasp on Kratos." Dean agreed.

"So, want to play cards?" Genis proposed. "I have the cards with me and we can use the room of Raine."

"That sounds like fun. Sheena, want to play with us?" Colette asked the black haired young woman.

"Huh? Sure. I don't know the rules, but let's play." Sheena said with a smile on her face.

"We'll teach you the rules! Come on!" Lloyd said excited as he acted like a little child and ran up the stairs.

"Lloyd… You don't know when to behave, do you?" Dean asked the boy in red as he observed the behaviour of his friend.

"You said something Dean?" Lloyd asked Dean from up the stairs.

"No, it's nothing."

"The last one is the room is a slowpoke." Genis said with a grin on his face.

"Hey, that's not fair. You're the only one who knows what room it is." Dean said back as he immediately came running after the young elf boy. The rest of the group played along with the game. It was at times like this that Dean forgot about the whole world, didn't pay attention to his surroundings and just had fun with his friends. They played cards and played outside for the rest of the most of the day. They helped with taking care of the people from the ranch who weren't feeling well. Dean wasn't allowed to help and got send to bed early. Although he hadn't been doing much that day he fell asleep quite easily. The following passed by quite fast, yet it sometimes felt like the minutes were hours as Dean and the rest of his friends were getting bored. Raine had given them extra homework and assignments in order to keep her students busy for the most of the day. Lloyd and Kratos were training early in the morning again. Dean wanted to train along with them, but he wasn't allowed to. Dean woke up around five o'clock in the morning when it still was dark every day. It was his rhythm and now that he gradually was getting better and better, slowly getting back to his old self, this sleep rhythm of getting up early had returned as well. The whole problem was that he couldn't get back to sleep after he woke up. He really wanted to train alongside Lloyd and Kratos. Not only because he missed training with them, but because time would go by faster while he was training. Dean was getting bored with nothing to do and not being allowed to do something. He was getting examined by Professor Sage this morning. He would not be able to deceive her. He was getting much better the last few days. He would be able to travel the whole day without a problem now. Maybe if he would need to hunt in the beginning as well the days would get tiring for him, but Sheena would be there to help with the hunting. It would turn out alright like that. That's what Dean thought. Now all he had to do was to convince the Professor of this. That wasn't going to be easy. Dean got dressed and decided to watch the training of Lloyd and Kratos.

"Gah." Lloyd let out a cry as he got beaten to the ground by Kratos again. Dean could tell immediately that the mercenary was holding back on Lloyd. The difference in skill and strength was oblivious. The boy in red cursed and got up again. Dean could tell that Lloyd was getting agitated. His fighting would get even more sloppy when he got like this.

"Lloyd." Dean called out to the boy in red. He didn't hear him. "Lloyd!" The boy in red now watched at Dean. His face showed his agitation. "Take a deep breath and calm down. You can do this. Don't let your emotions lead you. Calm down." Dean could see the pose of Lloyd relaxing. The swordsman took a deep breath, grabbed his swords tighter and concentrated once again. The sparring between the mercenary and the boy in red continued. Kratos eventually got the upper hand and pushed Lloyd back again, but it took a bit longer than usually this time. Lloyd was still improving and it was a great sight to see this. Dean was proud of Lloyd.

"Dammit." Lloyd said as he got up again.

"Don't curse Lloyd. You're doing quite well." Dean complimented the boy.

"Your guard is still sloppy. It still needs improvement." Kratos commented on Lloyd's skills.

"Do you need to be this harsh on him?" Dean asked the mercenary.

"He won't learn if I'm soft on him." Kratos answered the question with his neutral voice.

"It's okay Dean. I need to get stronger and Kratos is right. This is what I need." Lloyd said with a bitter voice. Dean could see the determination on Lloyd's face. He wondered if that same determination could sometimes be seen on his face as well.

"Dean. Do you want to try and spar with Lloyd?" Kratos suddenly asked Dean. The question made Dean think. His heart was yelling yes at the moment, but his mind wasn't so sure. This was either a test from Kratos or it could be a statement if Dean lost that he wasn't fully rested yet. Dean thought and tried to feel the condition of his body. Was he strong enough? Dean didn't know the answer. After a while Dean found his answer.

"Yes, but I'll ask to end the fight as soon as I notice that I'm not ready for it yet. I can't say just yet." Dean said to the mercenary. As usually his eyes, his body language and his response didn't show anything what the man was thinking.

"Then you'll two face each other now. You have your sword with you I see." Kratos said as he looked from Lloyd to Dean. Dean was so used to taking his sword with him, that he automatically took it with him that morning. Dean drew his sword and took a battle stance. How wonderful it felt to hold his sword in his hands again. It felt like an eternity to Dean even though it had been two weeks ago since that they had fought Kvar. His sword didn't feel heavy. It was the exact opposite. His sword felt light, much lighter than before. Dean swung the sword around a few times. It felt like his sword, but something felt off.

"Here I come." Lloyd said and he ran towards Dean with his swords in position in order to attack. Dean took on a defensive position. Lloyd came at him with full speed and full determination. Lloyd wanted to show Kratos how much he had progressed. The boy in red was planning on defeating Dean. It didn't matter to him if Dean had recovered or not. Dean blocked the first blow of one of the swords, but it felt to him like it went too easily. While Dean wondered on this his body moved on his own and blocked the second blow as well. The speed of the attacks and the force behind from Lloyd now decreased, having lost the momentum of the running attack. Dean stepped back as Lloyd kept attacking him. Dean blocked all of the attacks, but the strange thing was that he only needed to use his right hand, his sword hand. Normally he needed to use both of his hands in order to defend against these kind of attacks. His sword was light, the swings he made with his sword were off and he could now easily block the attacks Lloyd was throwing. It was not like he was weaker than before, but stronger than before and that his strength had increased. Dean wanted to test this theory of his and decided to go onto the offence. After Dean blocked the last attack, he stepped sideways and brought his sword down towards Lloyd. Lloyd blocked the attack, but his sword was beaten back by the force of Dean's attack. Dean kept attacking and Lloyd was now on the defence, but the boy in red was barely holding his ground. Dean didn't understand. He wasn't using full force. He felt like if he used full force, he would lose grip of his sword and destroy it. Dean kept pushing Lloyd back. Lloyd then suddenly evaded one of Dean's attacked, turned around and attacked Dean. Dean dodged this attack however and rolled away, creating some distance between him and his sparring opponent. When Dean got up both he and Lloyd attacked each other. Blows were interchanged between the swordsmen and neither of them wanted to be defeated. Due to his increased strength Dean was struggling with keeping his attacks in going the direction and with the force he wanted. His attacks were sloppy, but the strength of his attacks were much stronger now. He could make sure that his attacks clashed with the attacks of Lloyd. None of them would get the upper hand like this. Both of them realised this, so they both jumped back at the same time. There would be one final attack.  
>That one attack would decide everything. Lloyd moved first and wanted to use his speed to his advantage. Dean dropped his sword, tried to use a low spin-kick to kick Lloyd to the floor, but Lloyd jumped over the attack. Dean immediately attacked again before Lloyd had a chance to react. The boy in red landed and Dean punched him in the back with his full force. Lloyd flew away with the force of the attack. Thus the sparring battle was concluded. Lloyd bid the dirt, almost literally.<p>

"That was a strange battle." Kratos said after Dean picked up his sword and put it away.

"It was… Kratos… I'm stronger than before." Dean said to the mercenary.

"Your attacks were sloppy. You aren't stronger. You would have defeated Lloyd in a more appropriate way than this. Why did you drop your sword and tried to take him on with your bare hands?" This time the face of the mercenary was revealing his motives. A confused look was on the face of Kratos.

"What I meant is that I'm physically stronger. I don't know how or why, but my sword feels light. Much lighter than before, too light. My attacks were much stronger, but I couldn't control them anymore. That's why I dropped my sword at the last attack. If I can't control my attacks with my sword, but I can control my attacks with my hands and feet. In my eyes it was the best option." Dean explained to Kratos. Lloyd meanwhile hadn't gotten up. Dean must have hit him harder than he thought he had. Dean cleared his thoughts and thought of nothing as he let the mana flow into him. He used a healing spell on Lloyd. At this the boy in red finally got to his feet. The cost of mana of the spell didn't affect him. It was strange. Dean felt different, like something had changed. He wasn't tired anymore. This whole fight hadn't tired him at all. His strength had increased, but this was a disadvantage for him. He was used to fight with technique, not with strength. Now he had strength, but too much and he couldn't control it properly. He had to learn how to fight again. He had to find the feeling of swinging his sword around again.

"I will have to start over again…" Dean muttered to himself. Kratos hadn't said anything yet. He had just observed Dean until now.

"Maybe your Exsphere has somehow awakened. I have no other explanation for it, but it seems your well enough again to journey." Kratos said again with his neutral voice. The confused look on his face had disappeared and he was like he had been before.

"Professor Sage will examine me later this morning." Dean said with a soft voice. The change had surprised him.

"Augh… That attack hurt Dean. What the hell is going on? Your attacks were a lot stronger than before." Lloyd asked Dean confused.

"I don't know Lloyd. I can't explain it myself." Dean answered.

"That's strange." Lloyd said.

"Training isn't over yet." Kratos suddenly said. "Lloyd, you're going to spar with me again. Dean will train on his own." Lloyd was complaining that he was tired and hurt. Kratos just healed the wounds and started to attack Lloyd. Lloyd had no choice but to fight back. Dean picked up his sword again and started to swing it again. He needed to get a good feeling for his sword again. Just swinging the sword around the whole time was boring, but it was necessary for Dean. He would need to spar in the future again. The training would help him with knowing how much force he had to put in his attacks. His whole balance and knowledge of this was now wasted because of his increased strength. His increased strength would get in handy in the future, but right now it was only a nuisance. When training ended Lloyd was already beat. Dean didn't blame his friend. Kratos had been pushing him around the whole morning. If Kratos had done that to Dean, then he too would have been exhausted.

"I know Kratos is trying to make me stronger by being strict, but I feel like he's sending me to an early grave like this. Man… I'm exhausted." Lloyd said as he dropped his full weight on the chair that was standing behind him. They were in the dining hall of the inn they were staying, where breakfast would be served soon. They were now staying in an inn that had more luxury than the cheap inn they had been staying before. The main reason for this was the breakfast. The breakfast of the previous inn just was a bit too meagre. In order for Dean to recover more quickly he needed to eat enough. That was the reasoning behind the switch between the inns according to The Professor, but Dean thought it had to do more with the complaining from Genis and Lloyd that they were staying at the cheapest inn while Kratos and Raine were staying at the most expensive inn. The whole group now stayed at the same inn. It was also easier for Kratos to dray Lloyd out of his bed early in the morning when they would go training.

"Good morning." Genis said as he let out a yawn. The hair of the elf boy was really messy and Dean thought that he needed a haircut, but Genis would hear nothing of it. Both Lloyd and Dean had short hair, although Lloyd's hair was more spiky and Dean's hair… Well, Dean's hair was always a mess. If his hair was long enough to reach his shoulders it would be curly hair. Since Dean's hair was short, almost as short as possible if Dean had a saying in it, it wasn't curly. As soon as his hair was growing a bit longer it became all spoofy and had a mind of its own. Dean didn't like this at all and that was probably the reason he secretly got a haircut at every town they stopped.

"Good morning." Dean said back. When he looked at Lloyd he saw that the swordsman was sleeping in his chair. Back in Iselia Lloyd could even sleep while standing if they were in class. Slowly the rest of the group came downstairs. It was silent for most of the time during breakfast. Genis, Raine and Sheena were still sleepy and needed time to wake up. Lloyd was sleeping through his breakfast. Kratos was always quiet during breakfast and Colette seemed to be lost in thought. Dean enjoyed his breakfast to the fullest, but he was careful not to eat too much. After breakfast everyone refreshed themselves in their rooms. Dean and Lloyd were sharing one room. Dean had grabbed a few things from breakfast and took it to his room, so that Lloyd could eat. Nobody had waken the boy up during breakfast, so Dean was making sure that Lloyd had his breakfast right now in their room. They would probably leave for the Tower of Mana this morning and Lloyd would need his strength. Besides, if Lloyd wouldn't eat he would be complaining for the rest of the morning until lunch and nothing was as tiring as a Lloyd who wouldn't stop complaining. After breakfast Dean knocked on the door of the bedroom of Raine and Colette. After a moment the silver haired healer of the group opened the door.

"Mmm? What is it Dean?" the woman asked her student. "You already gave me back that test I gave you, so what is it?"

"Good morning Professor. Could we do that examination soon? I really want to know if we can leave today." Dean said to his teacher.

"Oh yeah, that was today. Just give us a moment. We're almost done." Raine closed the door before Dean had the chance to say anything back. Dean decided to wait at the hall until he would be called in again. It took a longer time than he expected and he had started to count the number and insects, like flies and spiders that he could find inside the hallway. There was only one spider and it would probably be removed later that morning during the cleaning and there were about six flies flying around. With small zaps of electricity Dean killed the flies with his magic out of boredom. Ten minutes later the door finally opened and Dean was let inside the room. The Professor was now wearing a beautiful black dress that perfectly emphasized the curves she had as a woman. She was also wearing make-up and looked like a beautiful woman. Colette was sitting on the bed. She was wearing a white with blue dress that had several cute prints on it. The blond girl too was wearing make-up, but only a little. The dress and the make-up made her look like a cute girl and it seemed like it was done like that on purpose. Dean just kept staring at the both of them in wonder and couldn't keep his eyes off of them. The Professor then cleared his throat and Dean was brought back to reality.

"Wow… Um… Professor. You look beautiful." Dean managed to say.

"Why thank you Dean. I knew you would be able to appreciate the change in looks." The silver haired woman in the black dress said back.

"You too Colette. You look really cute." Dean blushed like crazy when he said this and he felt his face getting red.

"Thank you." The girl whispered back as she too seemed to be blushing.

"But Professor… Why are you dressed up like this?" Dean then finally asked.

"The mayor is going to celebrate the destruction of the Human Ranch and the liberation of the people that were trapped there. The whole group was invited. Did you forget?" Dean couldn't recall anyone saying this to him. "I asked Lloyd to tell you this. Don't tell me he forgot to tell you." The woman let out a sigh.

"As far as I can remember he didn't tell me. He probably forgot about it as well."

"You don't have a suit of your own, do you?" Raine asked Dean while she was sizing him up. "It's a good thing Colette and I bought a suit for you as well when we were shopping yesterday." Dean had been busy with his homework most of the day yesterday, so he hadn't noticed the absence of Professor Sage and Colette. "I think we got the right size."

"So what? You're saying that you're going to help me change into a suit?" Dean asked while he was backing away to the door. He didn't mind changing into a suit, but not in front of Colette. He didn't want her to see all the scars that were all over his body. "I'll change in my own room."

"There is no need to be shy now Dean." The woman was slowly getting closer to Dean and had a grin on her face that Dean didn't like.

"I'm not shy Professor, it's just that I can change on my own. I don't need your help." Dean was now leaning against the door with his back and wanted to get the hell out of this situation.

"Now now Dean. Colette and I have seen you in your swimming trunks before. We won't see anything we haven't seen before." The Professor kept playing around with Dean and was now blocking the door. Dean had no escape.

"Professor!" Dean said to the woman. The grin on the face of the woman only got wider. "My scars… I don't want her to see them." he then whispered as softly as he could to the woman. The Professor then seemed to remember and backed away.

"Scars? What scars?" Colette then said. Dean had forgotten that she could hear the faintest of sounds with her angelic hearing. "You never told me about any scars Dean." the blond girl looked at Dean with suspicious eyes. Dean decided not to lie to the girl.

"I just don't want you to see them. They're ugly." Dean softly said to the girl.

"Why didn't you tell me?" the girl asked him. She was clearly hurt by the fact that he had kept something secret from her. He too knew that she was holding something back and had a secret from him as well, although it seemed she had tried to tell him before. He had kept quiet about his scars and had tried his very best to hide them from everyone. Only the Professor had seen them.

"Because I'm ashamed of them. Because they remember me about the time I was captured. Because whenever I look at them, they make me feel ugly and miserable." Dean answered with a bitter voice.

"You're not ugly Dean." Colette tried to cheer him up.

"You will think so when you see them. You're the last person whom I want that sees the scars!" Dean shouted at the girl. This made Colette look sad.

"Why?" Was the only thing the girl asked him. The Professor now looked angry at Dean. Dean hadn't wanted to shout at Colette.

"Because…" Dean paused. "That's because you're the person I care about the most." Dean said in a soft voice. It felt to him that he was now confessing his love to the girl. "I don't want you to see them, because I don't want you to think that I'm ugly." Tears were now flowing down the face of Dean. This was the part of him that he wanted to hide. This was the part of him that hurt the most. The part that he wanted nobody to know about.

"Oh Dean." Colette then said and hugged him tight. Dean let out his tears and let him be comforted by the girl he loved.

"We won't force you to change here." The Professor then said. She was now carrying a package that probably contained the suit. Colette stopped her embrace. The woman in the black dress then gave it to Dean.

"Thanks Professor." Dean said as he wiped away his tears. He was looking pathetic right now and he didn't want to look pathetic in front of the two beautiful ladies.

"Dean… I won't ever think you're ugly." Colette then said with a fierce look in her eyes.

"Thanks Colette, but I don't think you'll ever think that I'm pretty with these scars of mine. I'm going to change in my room. I'll see you downstairs." Dean opened the door and wanted to walk outside.

"We'll do the examination after the party." The Professor said to the boy. "And I'm sorry that I went too far." Dean just nodded and went back to his room. Luckily for him Lloyd was nowhere to be seen. Dean just wanted to be alone for a while. The conversation had drained him completely. He tried to wash away the traces of the tears with some water and tried to put his hair in a better style, but as always his hair wouldn't listen. He then slowly opened up the package and changed into the suit. It was a white suit and there were shining black, expensive looking shoes with them and a red tie. He had never put on a tie before, so he decided to ask for the help of the Professor with the tie. He then washed away most of the dirt that was on his body that had gotten on him at the morning practice. He looked at the scars that were on his body and he wished that they weren't there. It was fortunate for him that they didn't hurt and that his skin wouldn't overstretch and start bleeding if he was in some kind of strange position. Dean got sick of the sight of his scars and decided to finally put on the suit. He carefully put it on, afraid to damage it. He wondered how much of a fortune this suit would have cost, but at the same moment he didn't want to think about it. After that he was done changing, except of putting the tie on, he went downstairs. He saw that Colette and the Professor were already waiting. Dean asked his teacher if she could put the tie on for him. One by one the rest of the group came downstairs. Lloyd came rushing inside and went straight to his room to change. He was carrying a package that looked a lot like the one the Professor had given Dean. Lloyd finished changing into his suit last and was the last one downstairs. Kratos was wearing a black suit with a purple tie. The suit really fit him, although Dean could notice that the man wasn't used to dress up like that and didn't really like it. Sheena was wearing a purple dress. The dress however revealed a part of her cleavage. Dean had trouble looking at the woman as his gaze kept going down and not up at the face. He couldn't stop it. Colette somehow noticed this and was now grabbing Dean at his arm. Dean started to make small talk with Colette in order for the girl to stop clinging to him. He didn't mind the change, but people would maybe start thinking things. Dean knew he loved Colette, but although the girl was acting strange, he didn't know if the girl thought of him like that as well. Besides it was unfair for him to confess his love for her at this time. She couldn't feel him. He would want to embrace her and hold her tight, but Colette wouldn't even feel him. They were also still travelling along the Journey of Regeneration. Even if she turned into an angel, he wanted to confess his feelings for her after the journey was over. Genis then came downstairs. The boy was also wearing a black suit, but his tie was blue. Lloyd was the last one who came down. He too was wearing a black suit, but his tie was red. Dean noticed something. His other male companions were dressed in black, but he was the only one who was dressed in white.

"Um… Why I am the only one who has a white suit?" Dean asked.

"We thought that white would suit you better than black and I think we made the right choice." Raine explained.

"Yeah, you look good in that Dean." Lloyd said to Dean.

"Thanks Lloyd. You look good too." Dean replied to his friend.

"Yeah, but suits are nothing for me. I feel way too stiff like this." Lloyd started to complain already.

"It's only for today. Let's get moving. We're already too late." Kratos said with a strict voice. The man didn't look comfortable in his suit at all. The group then stepped outside the inn and went towards the house of the mayor. Most of the people that were heading towards the house of the mayor were dressed up as well, but their clothes weren't as fancy as those of the Chosen's group. Without making it look they were in a hurry the group went to the house that was at the end of the road. There were already a lot of people at the house. It looked like half of the town was invited as there were a lot of people gathered. The mayor must be a rich man if he could afford to arrange a party of this scale. As soon as the mayor of the town saw that the group had arrived he called for them. The group was guided to the highest point of the gathering. The mayor was waiting for them there. He then ticked a spoon to a glass, which made more of a sound than one would expect, to gather the attention of the people.

"People of Asgard. We all know why we have gathered here. The Human Ranch near Luin has been destroyed by the Chosen and her guardians. Although Luin was destroyed we now no longer have to fear being attacked by the Desians. Soon the world will be regenerated as the Chosen is still going on with the Journey of Regeneration. This party is for the Chosen and her companions. To the Chosen!" The speech of the mayor would direct to the point, but was heart whelming.

"To the Chosen!" The rest of the people shouted as well and the entire audience started clapping. The people then waited for a reply from the Chosen herself. Colette then grabbed a piece of paper and started to read aloud.

"Um… Dear people of Asgard. We want to thank you for your gratitude and your kindness." Colette was just reading from the paper and people could hear that she was saying things she hadn't thought of herself, but still the people were drawn to her and Colette had the entire attention of the crowd. "You knew that taking in the people from the Human Ranch who had been captured there would not be easy. You knew that and still you did. I want to thank you for that. It is in times like these that we should stand together and look out for each other. Showing kindness to each other in difficult times is what true strength truly is. I will do my best and regenerate the world. After the Regeneration of Sylvarant, let's work together towards a better future. Let's make sure that nobody will have to suffer like the people did that had been captured by the Desians. The Goddess of Martel resides in all of us and that is why everyone is capable of helping each other. It is truly a delight to have met people like you." Colette stopped talking and slowly everyone started clapping and cheering. Colette started to blush and bowed down. This somehow caused the audience to cheer even more. After the people were quiet the mayor stepped forward again.

"Now let the party truly begin!" the old man simply said excited. Everyone cheered again and then started talking to each other. The mayor personally thanked all of us and then we headed down the other people as well. Dean approached the Professor in the meantime.

"Did you write that speech?" Dean asked the woman in the black dress.

"Actually both Colette and I wrote it. It took a lot of work and time, but we finished it. Kratos gave us a hand as well and I asked the opinion of Genis when it was finished. Genis thought it was quite beautiful." Raine answered.

"It truly was a beautiful speech."

"Thank you Dean." The group then somehow got split up from each other. Dean was offered drinks and snacks. The drinks tasted weird and nothing like he ever tasted before. The snacks were truly wonderful. Dean wondered how the small, but tasteful snacks were made. Maybe the mayor would know. Dean wanted to talk with Colette and compliment her on her speech, but there were too many people and he couldn't spot the girl. A lot of people came to him to thank him and talk to him. Most of those people were the people they had rescued from the ranch. Dean recognised a few faces, but couldn't familiarize himself with everyone. Dean sometimes spotted some of his companions and talked to them. He also asked them where Colette was, but they too lost sight of her. Time passed and Dean still couldn't find the girl. After some time Dean got tired of the party and needed some space. He excused himself and went away from the party. It was already evening and getting a bit dark. It was cooling off a bit as well, but Dean didn't mind. It was hot at the party due to the amount of people that were there. Dean decided to take a walk for a while before he would go back to the party and look for Colette again. He was really concerned about the girl right now, especially now that he knew that nobody had seen her. As Dean was nearing the entrance of the town he could see somebody standing there. As he got near he could see who it was. It was Colette. She was staring into the distance. Dean wanted to call out to her, but for some reason it felt inappropriate. Instead he simply walked towards the blond girl. He stood right beside the girl and didn't say anything. The girl then took his hand and gently squeezed into it.

"Hey there." Dean said to the girl he loved. She looked really beautiful in that dress of her, but she looked sad as she was looking in the distance.

"I can't stop thinking about Alice." Colette softly said after a while. "I know that I shouldn't and there is nothing we can do, but I just can't stop. During the day I can play with you guys and I was busy with homework and working on the speech, but at night my thoughts just drift away. They end up at the most strange places and I just can't stop thinking. I often make walks at night time as well. It helps me clear my thoughts… Lately, I just can't stop thinking about Alice."

"Colette…" Dean gently squeezed in her hand, but he realised that she couldn't feel that. "Right now we can't look for Alice, but we can after we're done with the World Regeneration." Dean said to the girl he loved. He wanted to cheer her up.

"But what if I can't look for Alice?" Colette looked up and looked Dean in the eyes. There was sadness and a genuine concern for Alice in her eyes. "Even after the World Regeneration the people will want to honour me and I will have to travel the whole world again. I heard from Phaidra that the Chosens who succeeded should do those things."

"Then I will look for her. Lloyd and Genis will want to help search with us as well. When we find her the world will be a better place. We will take her in with us and we will help raise her in Iselia. We won't stop searching until we've found her." This somehow brought a smile to the girl's face.

"Thanks Dean. You're so kind." Colette said. She then kissed him on the cheek and blushed immediately after she noticed what she did. Dean blushed like crazy as well.

"I'm sorry…" the girl then said, almost regretting what she had done.

"N-n-no. It is okay." Dean was muttering as well. "I liked it." Dean suddenly confessed. He didn't want to say that. Why did he say that?

"You liked it? You want me to kiss you again?" The blond girl then asked him. She suddenly got closer to Dean. Dean's heart was pounding like crazy and the butterflies in his stomach were so active that Dean felt like he could start flying anytime soon. He felt like he was getting attracted towards the girl and he started to get closer to her as well. Dean then shook his head. He was feeling strange. It felt harder to resist the urges he sometimes had. Somehow Colette was having the same problem as well.

"Colette. S-s-stop. We shouldn't do this." Dean then said. The girl blinked and just stared at him. She looked him in the eyes with those beautiful blue eyes of her. He could feel himself getting lost in those eyes.

"You don't like me?" Colette then asked. She looked somehow hurt. Dean was confused like hell. Colette wasn't acting like herself at all. She was acting strange.

"Of course I like you. I just don't think it is appropriate for us to be doing this." Dean replied. His face was bright red and he didn't know what else to say. Deep inside he wanted her, but his mind almost shouted no.

"Why is it inappropriate for us to do this? Don't you want to kiss me?" The girl was being really bold now. She really drove him crazy. She made Dean fight an inner fight and his feelings for her were winning.

"Of course I want to kiss you." Dean blurted out.

"Then why don't you kiss me?" Colette then asked him as she came closer to him and wanted to kiss him again. Dean then grabbed her shoulders and stopped her. She looked confused at him.

"Because it would be unfair to you…" Dean then said. "If you kissed me it would felt great for me, but you wouldn't feel anything." Colette looked down at the ground and sad again. She knew he was telling the truth and it hurt. "I can't hold back these feelings of mine anymore." Dean then suddenly said and looked Colette fiercely in the eye. "I love you Colette." Dean confessed to the girl. He had no idea why he was telling her this right now. He had wanted to wait with confessing his love to this beautiful girl, but her strange behaviour had stirred up something in her. "I fell in love with you a long time ago, I just didn't realise it. After you freed me from the Desians and I was myself again I truly realised that I love you. It hurts so much to see you suffer and I want to hold you in my arms almost the entire time, but although that would help me, it wouldn't help you. You have no idea how hard it is for me not to kiss you right now and hold you in my arms, but that just wouldn't be fair to you." Dean told Colette about the feelings he had for her. He left himself open to her and opened up his heart to her. She knew everything right now and he was alright with it. It had been so difficult to hold the feelings of him.

"Dean…" Colette simply said and looked away. Dean stopped pushing his hands down at her shoulders and let his arms down his body. The girl then slowly started to look him in the eye again. She then suddenly dived forward and kissed Dean on the lips. How soft her lips felt and how wonderful it felt. She then slowly backed down.

"I'm sorry." The girl then said. "I know you said that I shouldn't kiss you and you're right. I can't feel anything when I kiss you. I still wanted to kiss you. Strange huh?" The girl turned her back to Dean. She was smiling, but her eyes were sad.

"Colette… I just need to know…" Dean took a deep breath. "Do you love me too?" The girl turned around and looked him in the eyes again.

"Of course I love you. I wouldn't have kissed you otherwise. I was just afraid that you didn't love you. I just kept pushing my feelings onto you. I'm sorry. I was just afraid that you thought that I was a freak. I'm turning into an angel and my senses as a human are disappearing the closer I get to an angel. I was afraid you wouldn't love me because of that." The girl turned her back to Dean again. Dean grabbed the arm of the girl and pulled her closer to him. He embraced her and stroke her hair.

"You silly. I don't care that you're turning into an angel. I love you for who you are. I will love you and I will keep on loving you. Even if you become an angel and aren't a human anymore, I will keep loving you."

"I'm so lucky to have such a nice friend. Thank you Dean." Colette smiled again. The two of them then stopped their embrace. They just stood there, looking at the distance, happy to have found love in each other.

"It's getting really dark now. Shall we go back to the party and back to the others? They were really worried where you had been all this time." Dean proposed.

"Were you concerned about me?" Colette asked.

"I was the one who was the most concerned about you. Come on, let's go." The two of them walked back to the party, while they were holding hands. Colette kept looking back at the hands they were holding, wanting to confirm that they were holding hands with her sight now that she couldn't feel anymore. The sadness in her eyes was gone and Dean thought he could see love shining through those beautiful blue eyes of her, but it could also be his imagination. When they arrived back at the party a lot of people had already left. The others immediately went to the two of them as soon they saw them. Lloyd seemed to look jealous when he saw that Dean and Colette were holding hands. Sheena and Genis had a grin on their face when they saw it and then grinned to each other. The Professor and Kratos just raised an eyebrow when they saw it.

"Where have you two been?" The Professor asked them.

"We just needed some fresh air. Anyway, I left for some fresh air and came across Colette. I kept her company." Dean explained.

"Yeah, I didn't want to go back to the party. I was getting dizzy with so many people around." Colette added to the story. She wasn't doing her fake giggle this time and she sounded really convincing.

"And then we kinda lost track of time. I'm sorry we were gone for so long."

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter. The people here had a good time. Let's say goodbye to the mayor and head back to the inn ourselves." Kratos said. The group did as Kratos said and went back to the inn. When Dean and Colette said good night to each other Dean was already missing the touch of the hand of the blond girl he loved so much. With a dreamy stare in his eyes Dean got undressed and changed into his sleeping clothes. He wasn't even paying attention that Lloyd was with him. The boy had been staring at him for some time now, but Dean didn't pay any attention to him.

"Whoa Dean. What are those?" Lloyd then asked when Dean had taken off the blouse and the upper half of his body was revealed.

"What? These?" Dean pointed at his scars. For some reason he didn't mind that Lloyd saw them. "These are the scars from the many tortures the Desians did to me. Don't worry, they don't hurt. It just isn't a pretty sight."

"The Desians again huh?" Lloyd said as he let out a small curse.

"Yeah, but we defeated the Desians in this area. They won't be terrorising this area again. Don't worry about me. It's all over now." Dean tried to convince his friend, even though he knew it wasn't over yet. He still wanted to extract his revenge on Forcystus, the Desian Leader of the Human Ranch around Iselia. The World Regeneration was more important than that, but Dean swore he would get his revenge on Forcystus as well. Dean then continued to change into his sleeping clothes. Lloyd couldn't keep his eyes of the scars on his body. Dean didn't blame him. He hadn't counted the number of scars, since there were so many. Dean immediately pulled the sheets over him and wanted to fall asleep immediately.

"Dean?" Lloyd asked after the boy was in his bed as well.

"What is it Lloyd?" Dean asked sleepily as he let out a yawn.

"Is there something between you and Colette?" Lloyd asked him.

"We're in love with each other." Dean simply said to his friend as he slowly drifted to sleep.

"Lucky bastard." was the last thing Dean could hear Lloyd say to him. This somehow made sure that a grin appeared on the face of Dean and he fell asleep and a happy person.

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><p><strong>Love is an amazing thing, isn't it? It just doesn't find me lately, but I don't really care. My heart is joyed every time I think about the last part of the chapter.<strong>

**Colette was acting strange, wasn't she? That will be explained the next chapter. The group will go to the Tower of Mana. Oh poor Dean and Colette, will they ever be happy in love?**


	11. The Tower of Mana

**It has been a while since I last updated. For the ones who have read the story from the beginning, I will now say some things to you every chapter. But that's not all! Every chapter has that now! Go check it out!**

**The party finally goes to the Tower of Mana. There are already eleven chapters and we're still not at the Tower of Salvation. The group still has to make the pact with Undine as well... OC Dean has recovered from his fever at long last! Find out what happens in this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: if I owned Tales of Symphonia, there would be an awesome afro character in it. Afro haircuts are awesome!**

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><p>Dean woke up in the middle of the night with an enormous thirst. His throat was dry and his stomach was upset. He had no idea what could have caused this. Maybe he hadn't recovered from his fever entirely just yet. He left his room and went to the kitchen to get himself some water to drink. He made sure to make as little as much noise in order not to wake Lloyd up, but his fellow swordsman was snoring loudly. As he went downstairs towards to the kitchen he saw some light in there.<p>

"Ugh." a female voice let out. Dean entered the room and there were Raine and Colette. Colette didn't look good and it seemed like she had been throwing up.

"Take it easy Colette." the Professor said to the blond girl. The silver haired woman used a tissue to clean the face of Colette.

"My stomach is empty now. I don't think anything else can come out anymore." Colette said weakly.

"I know that you can't taste anything, but please try to eat something tomorrow morning. You need to keep your strength up." Raine had a concerned look on her face. Colette was smiling again, but she was forcing herself to smile. Dean knocked on the door to make his presence clear. They hadn't noticed him for a while and he had trouble finding a good time to intrude.

"Hello there Professor." Dean greeted his teacher. He then looked at Colette and blushed a bit. "Hey Colette. You're not feeling well?" Colette blushed a bit as well when she noticed Dean was there.

"I'm all better now." Colette answered. "I'm going back to bed. Good night Dean." The blond girl almost ran upstairs. She must be feeling embarrassed.

"What brings you to the kitchen at this hour Dean?" The Professor asked Dean, not paying attention to Colette.

"My throat feels dry and I'm thirsty. What's up with Colette? She's normally only gets sick after releasing a Seal."

"It's because of the drinks they served at the party. They were alcoholic drinks. Colette had quite a few of them it seems." The Professor now seemed to get mad. "Honestly, what were they thinking? Serving alcoholic drinks to kids?"

"I had some of those as well…" Dean confessed.

"So that's why you're thirsty." The Professor grabbed a glass of water for Dean. "Here, drink up. Have two more and then go back to sleep. You should feel better in the morning." Raine handed over the drink to Dean.

"Thanks Professor." Dean quickly drank all of the water and then refilled the glass.

"Did you feel strange after you had the drinks?"

"Well… I did say things easier. I said things that I normally wouldn't say." Dean began drinking the water again.

"So Colette wasn't lying. So you confessed your love to her?" A bit of the water went in the wrong hole of his throat and Dean was coughing hard. Colette already told the Professor that she and Dean were in love. Dean had trouble with stopping with the coughing. At the same time he was blushing like crazy. He put down his glass of water and tried to calm down after he finally could breathe normally again. "I assume that the answer is yes to that?"

"Yeah…" Dean softly then said, still blushing like crazy. "Colette was acting strange and doing things she normally wouldn't do. It caught me off guard and before I knew it I confessed my love for her, but my heart jumped with joy when I heard she felt the same."

"She was acting strange because of those drinks." The Professor explained to Dean. The behaviour of Colette made more sense now. She would never be that bold and kiss him suddenly on the cheek. It should have been clear to him at that moment that it was a sign of love, but the action had caught him off guard so much that it had left him confused. Dean guessed that the effect of the drinks were over. The girls of his dreams did blush the moment she saw him. "Still, I wondered how long it would take before you would confess your love to her."

"You knew?" Dean asked surprised. He thought he had kept his feelings to the girl a secret to the others. He was a bit shocked that the Professor knew about his feelings.

"I've seen many people in love in my life and it's not hard to see when someone is in love with somebody else. Both you and Colette have looked at each other with feelings of love since you were little. It is more of a surprise to me that you didn't confess your love to her until now." So the woman had known for years. She probably knew that Dean loved Colette before Dean himself did. He had always known somehow, but he had never known what those feelings truly meant. Now he did.

"I only realised my feelings for her, what they truly meant, after you freed me from the Human Ranch." Dean softly started talking. He needed someone who could listen to his story and he trusted the Professor. The woman was strict in her teachings, but Dean could always come to her if something was bothering him. He trusted his teacher. She had been the first one who had seen his scars and she had kept secret about them as well. "I didn't want to force my feelings for her and thought that I still had time for that. Then I learned what releasing the Seals did to her. My feelings for her grew stronger and stronger, but I supressed them and used all of my energy and attention into growing stronger, so that I could protect her. Then after the last Seal it just wasn't fair anymore… I wanted to hold her in my arms and comfort her, but she wouldn't be able to feel my embrace. I would be able to feel and rejoice in my feelings for her, but she wouldn't feel anything. Thinking about that just made me sad. I can't confess my feelings to her when she is like this, that is what I thought. I guess her strange behaviour and the drinks made me confess my feelings for her after all. I'm happy, but at the same time I'm sad. I love her and I want to protect her, but the more we go on with this Journey of Regeneration, the more she suffers. I just feel so powerless." Raine had kept quiet the whole time, listening to his story.

"I can understand how you feel. She is my student as well. It's hard to see her suffer like this." There was a strange silence between them. Dean drank some more water as his throat had become dry because all of that talking. "Don't get me wrong Dean, but Colette needs your love right now."

"What do you mean?"

"Colette is dedicated to finish the Journey of Regeneration and nothing will stop her from doing it, but deep inside she wants to be a normal girl. She wants to just grow up, fall in love and grow up with the one she loves. Even though she can't feel warmth, cold or pain right now, she _can_ feel love. Right now it gives her the strength to go with this journey. With all the suffering going around her, she needs some light of hope. You can be that light of hope for her."

"I'll try to be that for her."

"I know it won't be easy. Just take it easy and everything will turn out alright. Now then. It's right in the middle of the night. Let's go back to sleep." Dean finished his last glass of water and went back to his room. His thoughts were still running around like crazy and the butterflies in his stomach wouldn't settle down as well. He had trouble falling asleep, but after some time he did manage to.

The next morning Dean trained together with Kratos and Lloyd again. Dean had the feeling that he could see and hear better now than before, but his new strength was still something he had trouble with. Kratos made him spar even though Dean wasn't used to swinging his sword around. The natural feeling that his sword was an extension of his arm wasn't around anymore. Only hard work would make that feeling reappear. The sparring did help. It helped Dean estimate more and more how much force he should put into each hit. Dean also realised that if he fought more with technique that his strength shouldn't matter that much. He sharpened his skills and his technique that morning, but he was far from the level he had been on before. At breakfast both Colette and he had trouble with looking each other directly in the eyes. Genis and Lloyd were teasing Dean as they noticed what was going on. Sheena just rolled her eyes several times while she was eating. She and Colette had been giggling and talking with each other when Dean, Lloyd and Kratos had come back from practice. The mood was much lighter than the last days. Dean and Colette offered to help with the dishes and they did them in silence. They kept glancing at each other, looking away at the moment as they realised the other was looking as well. It felt really awkward for Dean. He had said to the Professor that he would be the light of hope for Colette, but he was just feeling really nervous instead of a light of hope. For some reason it was hard just to start talking to her. Somehow both Raine and Kratos elooked pleased at the whole ordeal. The Professor even called it the beauty of being young. Lloyd then said to his teacher that she sounded old when she said that. Lloyd got a slap in the face in return for making that remark. That boy should really learn when to keep his mouth shut. Both Colette and Dean laughed at this. After they were finished with the dishes the Professor checked on Dean if he truly was in good health. She looked really confused and puzzled as she learned that indeed nothing was wrong with him. Dean also told her about the increased strength and the improved sight and hearing. She then looked at Dean's Exsphere and studied it for a while, but then said she didn't know the reason why this had happened. Dean somehow got the feeling that she wasn't telling him the truth, but it was just a feeling. He trusted his teacher and if there was something he should be worried about, she would tell him. Everyone was told to pack and gather their stuff. They had already made all the necessary shopping for supplies earlier that week, so it didn't take much time for the whole group to be ready. Ready was excited to leave and Sheena seemed eager to go as well. When Dean asked her about it, she told him Boltzman Book was in the Tower of Mana. Dean had forgotten about that. They had indeed promised to cure Pietro from his curse back in Hima. Dean hoped that they wouldn't be too late because of him. Rested out and refreshed the group set out. A great deal of the villagers had gathered and bid them goodbye. Somehow they had known that the group was leaving. It was a nice change to be cheered on and to have the support of the people, but at the same time Dean hoped that the burden on the shoulders of Colette didn't increase due to this. Colette just seemed happy and this didn't seem to apply to her at this moment. It was a nice change to be finally travelling again. Travelling was kind of dull and boring, but it was even more boring to be stuck doing nothing because you needed to rest. Dean talked a lot during this first day of travelling with the others. Genis showed Dean some new tricks with his kendama he had been working on. Lloyd Colette and Dean wanted to try to use the weird 'weapon' of the young elf boy, but it ended in disaster as the ball of the kendama somehow ended up with hitting Raine. All of them deserved a preaching due to their lack of control of the device. It had been funny at first, so it had been worth it. At the end of the afternoon Dean hadn't talked to Colette just yet. He mustered his strength at one point and walked over towards her.

"Are you feeling a bit better?" He asked the blond girl. He looked into her blue eyes again and felt himself drowning in their beauty again. He wondered if it sounded too corny if he said that to her.

"Yeah. I'm sorry for worrying you." the girl responded. Then a silence fell between them as the then he remembered that she couldn't feel that. He wanted to let go, but Colette squeezed in his hand.

"Don't let go." she said to him as her face was a bit red of blushing. This made Dean blush as well.

"Are you sure? You can't feel my hand."

"Knowing that you're holding my hand is good enough for me."

"You didn't stay for long at the party. Did you enjoy yourself?"

"Oh, I had lots of fun. It's just that I couldn't find any of the others and after three drinks I just couldn't stop thinking about Alice. I wandered around the party for a while, but then I just wanted to be alone. Then you came."

"Could have been due to those drinks that made you think of Alice the whole time."

"Could be… I felt a lot more courageous all of sudden though."

"Yeah, you were kind of bold."

"You didn't like it?"

"It was confusing at first, but to be honest… I like it when you're bold like that." Colette started to blush a lot more after he had said that.

"R-really?" The girl was so cute when she acted like this. There was just so much he loved about the girl. It was hard for him not to fall in love with her.

"Yeah, but you don't need to force yourself. Holding hands like this is enough for me." There was another silence between them now, but it no longer felt weird. They walked together like this, lost in their own little world.

"You guys look way too lovey-dovey together like that." Sheena said from behind.

"You jealous Sheena?" Dean joked around. "You want to hold my hand as well?" This made the former assassin blush like crazy.

"You're got to be kidding me."

"Then why are you blushing Sheena?" Colette now asked. She had noticed that Dean was teasing the ninja and decided to join in. "Don't tell me you love Dean as well? I won't lose!" Colette then grabbed Dean's arm and pressed her body against it. This made walking much harder and they almost tripped.

"Don't worry, I'm not interested in him. You can have him." Sheena said back. She was still blushing though. It was so easy and funny to tease the girl. Dean wondered how the hell this young woman could ever kill Colette. At moments like this she seemed like she wouldn't hurt a fly, but looks were deceiving. Dean knew that if it really came to it, Sheena could kill in cold blood without hesitation.

"Well, if it's not me. Who are you interested in?" Dean was curious to find out if the young woman had someone she had an eye on.

"N-nobody. I'm not in love with a-anyone." Sheena started to stutter.

"Really?" Dean asked.

"You should be honest with us Sheena. We're your friends. You can trust us." Colette was giving Sheena a hard time. You could easily see that the black haired young woman was hesitating about telling anything. Dean was surprised. So there was someone she liked.

"I bet it's Lloyd." Dean said. For some reason Sheena's face turned red. It looked like Dean was right on the spot. "Lloyd is really a kind guy and he's strong too. He would be a good husband. The only downside is that he isn't that bright."

"Oh wow. Really Sheena? I'm so happy for you." Dean couldn't tell anymore if Colette was teasing Sheena, just joking around or that she was serious right now.

"Yeah, congratulations Sheena." Dean filled in. "You want us to tell him?" Dean asked jokingly with a big grin on his face.

"I swear I will kill you if you ever tell him something like that." Sheena suddenly said with a serious expression on her face. She was still blushing, but she was already holding her cards. Looks like Dean had gone too far.

"Don't worry. We won't do anything like that. I promise." Dean answered. He wasn't joking around anymore.

"You should hold to your promises. I know where to find you if I find out." The girl then walked ahead of the two lovers.

"I guess I went a bit too far." Dean said then. Colette started to laugh.

"It was funny though." Dean started to laugh as well. The both of them then picked up the pace a bit more as they saw they had fallen behind on the rest. Sheena had been guarding the rear of the group. Dean was relieved. Colette was still the same and so was he. Their relationship had just changed. That was all. She was still the same sweet hearted girl he knew. They group stopped for the night when they had found a cave that they could hide in. There were no monsters hiding in it. The group then prepared to set up camp. Dean helped with gathering enough wood for the fire they would make. Genis was already preparing to cook dinner. They young elf boy had grown so used to cooking for everyone during the travelling with the escaped prisoners that he immediately took out everything they would need. Lloyd helped his best friend with the cooking, although Genis was getting annoyed at one point as Lloyd was joking around too much. Dean and Sheena went out into the woods that were nearby. Dean set up some traps and taught Sheena how to do it. They would check the traps in the morning to find out if any eatable monsters had been caught in them. After they were done and returned to camp dinner was ready. After dinner the Professor gave to her students some homework to do and scolded Lloyd for not having his homework from Asgard yet. Lloyd then pleaded the rest if they could help him, but they all refused. The assignment wasn't hard to do, but it was still on a level that Lloyd had trouble with. Kratos then made sure that Lloyd would start with his homework and wouldn't just be lazy and do nothing, like he usually did. Dean and Colette studied together. He helped her with the problems she had been struggling with. After working for quite a while Dean's head was full and he stopped working on his assignment. It needed to be finished in a few weeks and both he and Colette had already gotten quite far, so it was okay if they stopped for the night. Dean wasn't tired just yet, but decided to go to sleep anyway. He would need to get up early in the morning anyway. Sheena and he would go out hunting everyone morning from now on. Dean wouldn't be able to train in the morning anymore, but Kratos had promised him that once every two nights he would help him train his swordsmanship or magic. This was enough for Dean. Colette kept him company for a while before Dean fell asleep. Dean's dreams that night were very sweet and full of love.

When Dean awoke Sheena was still sleeping. Genis was supposed to have the guard, but the elf boy was asleep as well. Colette was sitting next to him. Dean knew that Colette would warn the others if a monster would appear to attack them. He gathered his hunting things and woke up Sheena. The female ninja wouldn't wake up at first, but then was suddenly fully awake. Without making a noise they left camp after waving Colette goodbye. They were fortunate that morning that the traps they had set up the night before had caught a lot of prey. Some of the prey was still alive and they quickly ended their lives. For the rest of the morning they gathered some eatable plants and herbs. When they got to camp they prepared the prey they had caught so that they would be able to divide it around the group and carry it around. They skinned the prey and removed all non-eatable parts. Dean made sure that a part of the prey was held apart so that they could use it for breakfast that morning. Sheena and he worked perfectly together in silence. It was really reassuring that there was somebody that watched your back during hunting. Dean prepared breakfast after they were done with everything. Colette woke up Genis and Raine in the meantime. Lloyd and Kratos were practising nearby, but far enough so that the sounds wouldn't reach the camp. When the two swordsmen came back breakfast was ready. They all enjoyed their breakfast that morning. They broke up camp and resumed their travel soon after.

The following days were almost the same to the first day. After the second day of travelling Lloyd's enthusiasm was already gone and he was complaining about the long travelling again. It was nothing new to the group. The landscape was the only thing that changed during the travelling. In the beginning it had been kind of rough with many of the roads gradually climbing or descending. The more the group got closer to Luin, the more green fields and flat area to travel along they encountered. The House of Salvation in the area wasn't on the way and the group had taking a shortcut towards Luin that had saved them two days of travelling. The group passed by Luin and headed straight towards the Tower of Mana. Dean had gotten used to fighting again by the time they arrived at the Tower of Mana. The monsters they had encountered on the road had helped significant. Dean was getting confident in his swords skills again and Kratos had complimented him the last training in the evening. Dean was still struggling with the new magic spell he was trying to get under control. The spell was called Thunder Arrow and would be his most powerful spell until that point if he would be able to learn it. Kratos wasn't able to do a spell of that difficulty. Genis was the talented mage, but Dean was both talented in magic and the sword. Kratos told Dean that he could truly become a powerful Magic Swordsman if he kept improving like this. Dean really liked that sounded of that title. At long last the group arrived at the Tower of Mana. They used the Key they had obtained in Hima to enter the enormous building. The group entered a huge dimly lighted room. The Professor immediately ran across the whole room, studying every object there was. There was an Oracle Stone in the middle of the room and also three magic circles a bit further away from it. At the sides of the room there were bookcases that almost reached the ceiling. There was more than a thousand books in this room alone.

"Wow, that's a lot of books!" Genis said excited.

"Oh! Just think of all the knowledge contained within those books!" The Professor said excited. She went from one bookshelf to another, her eyes were lit up again.

"Great… How are we supposed to find Boltzman's book now?" Dean asked frustrated. "Look at how many books there are. It will take the whole day before we'll find it."

"Shouldn't we break the Seal first?" Lloyd asked. "This IS a Seal after all. Here is the oracle stone."

"Yeah, but after we release the Seal Colette will get sick again and then there will be the effects of this Seal that will take place as well. We promised to heal Pietro. I think it would be wiser to first look for the book and then unleash the Seal. The day has just begun. The Seal will probably be on top of this building. As long as we reach the top before dark we should be fine." Dean tried to convince the others that they should first look for the book. He just wanted that Colette wouldn't have to suffer from this Seal for any longer than necessary.

"I agree with Dean. Who knows what state Pietro could be in now? Besides, maybe the knowledge of the book will come in handy with unleashing this Seal as well." Sheena tried to convince the rest of the group as well.

"Colette? What do you think?" Raine asked her. Colette had been looking at the Oracle Stone for some while and hadn't really been paying attention.

"Huh?" The young blond Chosen responded confused. She then thought for a short while. "I guess we can look for the book first. This is a big tower after all. It will take a long time until we reach the top, but we have enough time left."

"The Chosen has made the decision. Let's respect her choice." Kratos said with his neutral tone.

"Thanks Colette." Sheena said. There were several bookcases. The group split up to look for the book. There were six bookcases and six of them. Each one of them started to search a different bookcase in order to save time. After half an hour of searching they still hadn't found the book. Lloyd was taking a break and it seemed The Professor was spending more time on reading the books than actually looking. Dean then came across an interesting book called 'The wonders of Lightning Magic'. Inside the book were described all the lightning spells there existed, detailed drawings of each of the spells and even knowledge on how to fuse the element of lightning with a weapon. Dean put the book away in his bag, but then he saw two smaller books, but these were for the elements wind and fire. They only had a small description and some drawing of the spells, but that was more than enough for Dean. He put the books in his bag as they certainly would come in handy. He would lend them to Genis as well. Putting the books out of his mind he continued to look for Boltzman's Book.

"I found it!" Genis yelled after ten more minutes of searching. He had been done with his own bookcase and was looking through the one where Raine was standing. The elf woman hadn't even heard him. She had found an interesting book and was reading it with still that gleam in her eyes. She then somehow broke loose from her trance and took a look at the book.

"My, Genis. Well done. I will be able to learn the spell that is needed to heal Pietro with this." The woman skipped through the book, reading little bits of information. The woman frowned the more the read the book.

"Is something wrong Professor?" Lloyd asked his teacher as he noticed the increased frowning as well.

"This is troublesome. I won't be able to heal Pietro with this alone." the healer explained.

"What do you mean? You can't heal him?" Sheena asked in panic.

"Calm down Sheena. I will be able to heal him, but I will need an item that enhances my magic. If only if we had an Unicorn's Horn…"

"As I recall correctly, there was an unicorn trapped at Lake Umacy." Kratos then said.

"We could always look there. Maybe we can somehow free it." Dean said.

"That should be our next destination then." Kratos said. The rest of the group agreed.

"All that is left to do here is to release the Seal." Dean said with a neutral voice, trying to imitate Kratos. He still thought that they should wait with releasing the Seals until they had done everything else they needed to do. If he could decide they would leave for Lake Umacy and come back when they had rescued the unicorn and gotten its horn, but nobody would want to do that. Even Colette would say that they should release the Seal now. Dean tried to look neutral on this case, but he knew that he was an open book when it came to this. Everyone could see right through him.

"Yes, I'll do my best!" Colette said in response. She walked over to the oracle stone and placed her hand on it. The magic circles near the oracle lit up for a short while, but nothing else happened.

"It didn't open…" Lloyd said. At the end of the room to the north and to the west were doors that were closed by stone.

"No, look at that magic circle." Kratos said, having noticed the change in the magic circles. Dean could see that the magic circles were now activated. What they were for he could not guess, he could only see that they were activated. Raine in the meanwhile was walking towards the magic circles and studying them.

"Marvellous! This apparatus has awoken due to the oracle stone." Raine said with that glimmering light in her eyes.

"So we just need to do something with that apparatus." Genis concluded.

"So it would seem." Kratos figured that out as well. Raine in the meantime stood on one of the magic circles, but nothing helped.

"This looks interesting. Lloyd, stand on that blue circle." Raine said to the boy in red, who wasn't paying attention while pointing at one of the other magic circles.

"What? Uh, okay." Lloyd walked towards the magic circle that Raine had implied and stood on it.

"Genis, you go to that one." Raine ordered her little brother to the other magic circle. Dean understood what the Professor was trying to do. He only hoped that it would work. As soon as Genis stood on the final magic circle the door on the north side opened.

"Oh!" Lloyd and Raine said at the same time.

"Wow! It opened Professor!" Lloyd said excited while he walked off the magic circle. As soon as his feet stopped toughing the magic circle the door closed again. "Huh? What the?" Lloyd said confused. Raine stepped off of her magic circle as well.

"It seems that the door won't stay open unless three people stay on these magic circles." the elf scholar explained. Dean had figured the same thing.

"Which means that three of us must remain here. It's dangerous, but we have little choice." Kratos said.

"Yes, we wouldn't want the door to be closed when we come back out." Raine said.

"Colette needs to go along, so she can't stay behind… Who should stay behind then?" Dean asked the group.

"I don't mind staying behind." the Professor said suddenly. The glittering gleam in her eyes hadn't faded away.

"You just want to stay behind in order to study the books." Genis said with a sigh. He knew exactly what his older sister was thinking, although it wasn't hard to guess what she was thinking at this moment. The older sister glared at her little brother when he said that, but he paid no attention to her.

"Let's analyse what is needed to defeat the monster at the end of the Seal." Dean said thinking hard. "Colette needs to be in the group that defeats the monster in order to pass the trial. She needs to release the Seal as well. That leaves three people that can accompany her. A healer should be in the group to heal the wounds. A magic user would be appropriate as well, but having two capable fighters in the front should be needed as well, in order to guard Colette…" The rest of the group didn't say anything. They were thinking as well, but some of them were watching Dean as he thought his plan through. "How about this? Kratos, Lloyd, Sheena and Colette should go on. That would leave me, Raine and Genis behind. Raine is an excellent healer, but her spells are of the element of light. Since this is probably the Seal of Light, her spells will be useless against the monster of this Seal. Kratos can heal and use magic spells, thus functioning as both the healer and the magic user. Sheena and Lloyd are excellent close combat fighters, so they will be able to keep the monster busy in the front. Colette can use her angel magic as support and attack from a distance with her chakrams." Dean finished his thought progress.

"Don't you want to go?" Lloyd asked Dean. "You can fight as well as me or even better and you can use magic. Wouldn't you be a better choice?" Dean shook his head at the question. He had thought about including himself in the group, but he himself wouldn't be the best choice.

"No, you and Sheena are a better choice." Dean answered. "I still am not confident enough in my sword skills. My magic is fine and I can heal as well, but Kratos is better at using healing magic and he knows more magic spells than I do. You four will do fine. The Professor, Genis and I should stay behind. Are you okay with this, Professor? Genis?"

"I have no problems with it." Raine said. She was already picking several books and lay them at one of the magic circles.

"I guess I can study some of the books here. I'm fine with it." Genis said. He too walked towards the bookshelves and picked some books. Sheena went to Genis in the meantime and asked something, but even with his improved hearing Dean couldn't hear it. He wasn't paying attention to it anyway.

"Colette… are you all right?" Lloyd asked the blond girl.

"Thanks for worrying about me, but I'm fine." Colette responded while smiling.

"I'll be waiting for you here. I know you will do fine." Dean tried to encourage the girl.

"Yes, I'll do my best." Dean walked over to his magic circle and sat on it. He put his bag next to him and picked out the books about the magic spells. He was planning on studying the books while the others would climb the long tower. Genis and the Professor were done with picking books as well and sat on their magic circles as well. The door opened again and the others left. Dean waved at Colette and she waved back as they headed inside the door.

"Did you consider my request while picking the right people for the group?" The Professor asked Dean as the others left them.

"Maybe a bit. I know that you, Genis and I won't get bored while staying here. There are a lot of books here that are very interesting and useful to us. You just found the Boltzman's Book as well. You could use the time to study the book and maybe learn some new healing magic. I would like to take a look at that book as well."

"Yeah, the others would get bored in an instant, especially Lloyd." Genis said. "Sheena isn't such a reader, although Kratos would want to read some of these books as well."

"Well, you still made an excellent choice. Your reasoning was solid, although I was a bit surprised that you didn't want to come along." Raine said. She was looking for which book to read first while she was talking to Dean.

"It's not like I didn't want to come along, I just thought that I wasn't the best choice. What I want best is that Colette won't get hurt. Besides, if Colette got hurt I don't know whether I would be able to stay calm. I would probably freak out and bring the rest of the party in danger." Dean shook his head while he was thinking about a scenario where Colette got hurt. "I'm not the best choice, so I'll leave it to Lloyd, Sheena and Kratos to protecting Colette. I'm sure they'll do a great job."

"You care that much about Colette to think that far?" Genis asked after a while. Dean was studying the book about the lightning magic in order to distract himself.

"What do you mean?" Dean asked back, not knowing what the boy exactly meant.

"If I were in love with someone, I would want to protect them at all times and I wouldn't think about what was the best possible way to protect them if I wouldn't be able to be there for her." Dean was surprised. Those were mature thoughts for Genis, a boy of that age. Genis was right… Dean wanted to be with her the whole time and protect her, but it wasn't love that made sure Dean made sure he decided not to go with her. It wasn't love, it was fear. Fear of losing her, because he made a mistake. Until Dean was certain that his sword skills were back the way he wanted them to be, he didn't trust himself enough to protect the girl. Lloyd and Kratos would protect his beloved one.

"You're right. I would love to go along with her, but I don't know how to deal with this increased strength of mine. The possibility that I would make a mistake that would put her in danger is something that I fear…"

"You shouldn't belittle yourself that much Dean." The Professor said. "You're strong. You would do fine. If it was possible to send you after Colette, I would, but looks like we're too late for that." Dean nodded to the words of his teacher, but he wasn't convinced by the words. The next two hours that passed the three of them read the books that they had gathered. Dean was studying the books with the descriptions of the wind, fire and lightning spells. The book of lightning also had a special section where was explained how to best infuse weapons with several elements. It also told how to use two or more elements at the same time while infusing those elements into an attack with a weapon. Dean couldn't wait when he could try those things out. It would be really difficult, but not impossible. It seemed there were still a lot of things that he could learn. The Professor had also lend the Boltzman's Book to Dean. The description of healing magic and where it originated from was explained in the book, but also how to properly use healing magic, how to use healing magic in different situations and how to use the same spell in different ways. It was really an eye-opener to Dean and the book really sucked him in. He, Genis and The Professor lost track of time. Then a hologram of Lloyd appeared in the middle of the three magic spells. At the same time the other door that was sealed opened. The Professor was the first one who noticed this.

"Lloyd!" The Professor suddenly shouted as soon as he saw the hologram of Lloyd in front of her eyes. The gleam in her eyes had disappeared for some time now, but her eyes were alit once again. "Marvellous! It must be linked to an apparatus somewhere. Lloyd, can you see this side?"

"Wow! This machine is cool!" Lloyd said excited. Raine, Genis and Dean could hear the voice of Lloyd very clear. Not only did the apparatus show an image of Lloyd, but it also let through his voice. His clothes were dirty, so the journey to the top so far had had its dangers. "Hey there! I can see you too!"

"Lloyd! Can you hear me? The door on this side opened." Lloyd then faded away and an image of Kratos appeared.

"We can't go any further. You said that the other door opened?" the mercenary asked.

"Yes! You can't go further you said?" Raine asked back.

"That's right. It seems that you three have to explore parts of this Seal as well. If everything works out alright then we should be able to meet up somewhere."

"That's sounds like a good. Grab your stuff boys, it seems we have a part to play as well." The hologram of Kratos then disappeared. Dean put the books back in his bag, made sure that his sword was sitting right and walked towards the opened door with the others.

The three of them ended up in a huge room which seemed to be a huge staircase. Dean could see that there were monsters on this staircase that blocked the path. He unsheathed his sword and nodded to the others. They grabbed their weapons as well. The three of them battled their way up the stairs. The strange thing about this Seal was that the monsters had the element of Dark and not of Light. A Seal of Light with monsters with the element of Dark was a strange thing. It worked out alright for Dean, Genis and Raine as the spells with the element of light did a lot of damage on these monsters. It also seemed that the silver sword of Dean was effective against those monsters as well. Magic in overall was effective against these monsters. After a lot of climbing and fighting the three of them reached the end of the staircase. They then headed in a really large room. The door at the end of the door was closed. The room was dark and there was some kind of curtain in front one of the windows. Genis burned the curtain, because they couldn't reach it with their hands, as there was a gap between them and the curtain. A big blinding beam of light now shone into the room. They could now clearly see the rooms. There were mirrors placed all around the room, sphere like objects and some kind of hole where the beam of light somehow needed to go into.

"Looks like some kind of puzzle, but it shouldn't be too hard. Let's do this Genis!" Dean said to the elf boy.

"Alright!" Genis said back excited. They first pushed the mirrors in a way that it only went into the hole, but the door didn't open when they tried that. Raine then came with the idea that the beam of light needed to go through the sphere objects as well. This made the puzzle a bit harder, but it was no problem for Genis and Dean. After they pushed the mirrors in such a way that the beam of light shone through all of the spheres and through the hole, the door finally opened. Pushing around the mirrors had been hard work, since they were really heavy. Genis couldn't push the huge mirrors around anymore after he was done with moving two of them. Dean had done the rest of the moving and Genis had given him instructions on where to place them. The Professor had been watching them the whole time and refrained from helping the boys.

"Well done. I wouldn't expect any less from the top two students from my class." The elf teacher complimented Dean and Genis.

"Well… It's not hard to be the top two students, since there wasn't really any competition…" Genis commented. It was true. Dean, Colette and Lloyd were the oldest students in class. Genis had some other kids from his age in the class, but he didn't hang around with them much, because he was the smartest kid in the class. The others didn't know how to approach the young elf boy even though Genis was just playing around just fine with Lloyd, Colette and Dean. The games they played were the same games the other kids were playing. As for being the top two students… Colette was the one after Dean who knew the most and that was only because of her age. Genis was the only one Dean could discuss the more intelligent subjects with. It was a small village, so it was to be expected and it was a nice village. The lack of other intelligent students didn't bother Dean that much, but it seemed that Genis sometimes had problems with it.

"It wasn't that hard to solve the puzzle." Dean added. "It was just hard pushing all those mirrors around. Still, we managed to solve the puzzle."

"There also appeared some kind of bridges of light above. Solving the puzzle did more than just open the door." The Professor said. "Let's continue on. We've been moving around for some time and I hope we'll catch up with the others soon."

The three of them entered through the door and found themselves in another big staircase room. Once again there were a lot of monsters here and they had to defeat them all before they could proceed with climbing the tower. Defeating the monsters wasn't hard, but the small group was getting tired as they were slowly getting drained by the obstacles of this Seal. The three of them were panting when they reached the end of the staircase.

"We should rest for a while in the next room." Dean said. "If we need to climb any more staircases filled with all these monsters, we're going to run out of mana and energy."

"Yes, it would be lethal if that happened." The Professor said breathing heavily.

"I haven't sweat this much since Triet Desert." Genis weakly said. The young mage was looking a bit more pale. They needed to rest and a bit of food was needed as well. Dean felt really hungry all of a sudden when he thought about food. They entered the next room, ready for another fight, but there were no more monsters around. Dean sheathed his sword and smiled, happy that they wouldn't need to fight any more monsters. This was a big room just like the one where they needed to solve the puzzle. Only on the sides of the room there was solid ground. Connecting the sides of the room were bridges of light. Those must be the bridges of light they had created when they solved the puzzle. As they walked over the bridges of light Dean could see the room they had been before. It was quite a sight to see the beam of light and the mirrors from above. They hadn't gone so much up as much as Dean thought. He still didn't want to fall from this distance though. After they crossed the bridge of light they encountered another device with magic circles beneath it.

"There seems to be magitechnology machines here as well." The Professor said.

"It seems there are several magic circles here as well. Let's step on them." Dean said to the others. They nodded and walked towards the magic circles. As soon as all of them were standing on different magic circles an image of Lloyd, Kratos, Colette and Sheena appeared again. It seemed that they were still resting, although Lloyd was looking bored.

"Hey Lloyd, over here!" Genis shouted to his best friend. The boy in red looked up and somehow came closer.

"Oh, there is another image of you. Where are you?" Lloyd asked.

"We're deeper into the tower as well. Are you still stuck?" The Professor asked. Just when she asked the question sometime happened at the side where Lloyd and the others were.

"It seems the path opened up. We can go further now. We'll meet up soon." The images of the others disappeared. Dean sat down on the ground. His stomach made loud noises.

"I'm kind of hungry as well…" Genis said when he heard the weird noises coming from Dean.

"We have the ingredients for sandwiches with us." Raine said to that.

"Let's make something simple then." Dean decided. He began to unpack his bag to grab the right ingredients. The others unpacked the needed ingredients from their bags as well. The three of them didn't dare to leave the magic circles, so they had to throw the ingredients and knives to one another. Luckily for them this went well. Dean and Genis made enough sandwiches for the whole group, so that when the others would meet them they could eat as well. Just when they were done and putting everything back in their bags the others appeared in sight. They were crossing the same bridge of light Genis, Raine and Dean had just crossed.

"Hey guys!" Dean shouted and waved to them. The others waved back, except for Kratos. They were looking tired as well. "Here!" Dean threw a sandwich to Lloyd, which the boy easily caught.

"Sandwiches?" Lloyd asked.

"Yeah, we're really hungry." Genis said with his mouth full.

"Genis! Where are you manners?" The Professor said to the boy. Soon after that she herself almost devoured her own sandwich. Dean handed out the rest of the sandwiches. The whole group was together and now telling each other what had happened.

"So you had to solve puzzles involving beams of light as well." Kratos said.

"We had to burn down curtains with the Sorcerer's Ring for the beam of light to come through." Lloyd said excited.

"Wait… You didn't have the Sorcerer's Ring." Sheena said then. "How did you burn down the curtains?"

"Um… With fire magic?" Genis answered.

"Yeah, that worked just as well." Dean said. "There was only one puzzle we had to solve though. It was a bit complex, but nothing Genis and I couldn't handle." Dean then noticed that Colette was still holding her sandwich. The rest of the group had finished their sandwiches already.

"Here, you can have mine." Colette said as she handed over her sandwich to Dean.

"Oh, right. I'm sorry. I forgot…" Dean apologised. Somehow he had forgotten that Colette no longer felt hungry anymore. It also seemed that she didn't need to eat anymore, which was a really strange thing. She hadn't lost weight nor was she looking unhealthy. She only took a few bites of her food. Dean accepted the sandwich and ate it. He had still been hungry and the sandwich filled his stomach enough this time.

"No, it's okay. I'm sorry." the blond girl apologised.

"I think we've rested enough." Kratos then said as he got up. "How do we proceed from here?"

"There are five magic circles around here. Standing or sitting on all of them should open up a new path." Dean explained.

"The path is already opened." The Professor said. "See that warp panel over there?" She pointed towards the other end of the room. "It activated when the others gathered around us." The elf woman got up as well.

"I didn't notice…" Dean said. Normally he would notice these things as he always checked his surroundings.

"Nobody else did, don't sweat over it." Raine said to Dean in order to cheer him up.

"Then let's go." Kratos said. Normally he wasn't pushing everyone around like this. Dean wondered if something had happened. The rest of them got up as well as they got on the warp panel one by one. They ended up at the top of the Tower of Mana, on the roof of the enormous building. The whole group could see all around them. They could see the destroyed Luin, the mountains where Hima lay at the other side, the giant fields and the several routes that led from one town to another and the sea that was to the north. The air was clear and the view was breath-taking. Dean stood still for some time looking all around him, flabbergasted by the beauty of the world he was living in. He hadn't noticed that the others were already walking towards the altar. Everyone except him had their weapons ready. Dean unsheathed his sword as well and walked towards the others. Like the Seal of Wind an enormous amount of mana was rising up and the outlines of a monster could already be seen.

"Remember Professor and Colette. This is the Seal of Light. Colette's angel spells won't work and the light spells of The Professor won't work on it as well. That's what I expect at least. Keep that in mind and we'll do fine." Dean gave his teacher and his beloved one a piece of advice.

"Thanks for the tip Dean. Let's try our best!" Colette said back to him. The monster that appeared was like a giant unicorn, only this monster had wings on its back. The skin of the monster was brown, its horn was small and purple, but very sharp. It looked like there were wings near its hoofs. It's legs were dark blue, its manes were part pink, part dark blue and its tail had the same colours as the mane. At the end of the tail there was a sharp weapon-like club. The monster looked fast and strong. The appearance of the monster reminded Dean of a mystical creature called a Pegasus. They had covered the creature in class and this monster looked like it. The huge difference between the Pegasus and this monster was that this monster looked wild and like a savage, unlike the holy creature the Pegasus was. Lloyd, Kratos and Sheena ran towards the beast, but the monster just stormed ahead, lunging forward at Colette. Lloyd and Sheena were knocked aside, but Kratos managed to jump aside just in the nick of time. Dean immediately stepped in front of Colette, determined to protect the girl. He had been gathering mana ever since he had unsheathed his sword, preparing for battle. The view on the top of the tower had distracted him at first, but his focus was now only on the fight. The monster quickly rushed forward to them and it looked like they were about to be rammed of the tower.

"Barrier!" The Professor shouted as she put a spell of physical protection around Dean. The beast was almost in range now.

"Thunder Shield!" Dean shouted as he brought forth a shield made of lightning around him. He still prepared for the impact as the spell wouldn't stop the force of the attack. The beast rammed into the lightning shield, was slowed it down a little bit.

"Stalagmite!" Genis shouted as the unleashed his spell. The monster was launched into the air as a giant stalagmite made out of mana burst from the ground.

"Thanks Genis!" Dean shouted to the young mage without letting his sight of the monster. The monster was a bit hurt by this attack, but it just flew through the air, turned around and continued its attack. Dean gathered mana once again as it seemed that they needed magic to pin down the beast. Kratos was preparing a spell as well. Lloyd and Sheena looked frustrated as they didn't know what to do against the attacks of the monster. The 'Pegasus' now targeted Genis as it got closer fast.

"Lloyd, grab Genis and avoid the attack of the monster. Colette, try to hit the beast with your chakrams. Sheena, use a distance attack with your cards. Professor, use support and healing magic. We'll all attack from a distance and wait for a chance to pin it down." Dean shouted his orders around. The group now got more organised and focused on the fight now that they had a plan. Just before the monster could hit Genis, Lloyd grabbed his friend and dived to the side, dodging the attack of the monster. Genis his concentration was broken and he had to start over with preparing his spell. Raine healed the two boys, as they got a little bit hurt from dodging that attack. The attacks of Sheena and Colette missed as they weren't used by the speed of the attacks of the monster. The beast was very fast. The monster turned around again and choose another target. This time it targeted Kratos. After the monster had turned around in the sky and was rushing forward at Kratos again, Dean was done preparing his spell. Dean waited until the monster was near the edge of the tower again before he would unleash his attack.

"Spiral Flare!" Dean shouted as he unleashed a huge blast of air that was filled with fire. The attack was a combination of fire and wind magic. The magic spell went through the monster, but it didn't look affected by the spell.

"Eruption!" Kratos shouted as magma rose up from the ground. It hit the monster partly and Kratos dodged sideways again. The attacks from Sheena and Colette hit this time, but still the monster didn't look affected. They needed to pin it down with a strong attack, or else the monster would keep on dominating the flow of the battle. An attack from above would be perfect, but Dean wondered how they would pull something like that off.

"Colette! Can you use Holy Song?" Dean shouted to the Chosen. "I'm going to need a buff." Colette immediately started to pray in order to prepare for the angelic spell. Dean started to prepare another spell as well. He had a plan, but it was going to be risky. Genis was now using basic spell against the monster that would surely hit it, but it wasn't doing much damage to the creature. Lloyd got targeted now, but he managed to dodge. The next target was Sheena, but she too dodged the attack of the monster. The group kept attacking the monster and it seemed like the battle was going to be a battle where the winner was the one who could last the longest. The whole group was tired from climbing the tall tower and fighting the monsters on the way, so it wasn't looking good for them.

"Guys! I'm going to try something." Dean shouted to the rest of the group. "When the monster targets me, wait until I'm done with executing my plan. Then release all your attacks at the same time and pin the monster down. It's going to be risky, but we can't go on like this." Dean didn't know if the others would listen to him. The spell Dean was preparing was already ready for use, but Dean was gathering extra mana in order to strengthen the spell. The 'Pegasus' was now heading towards Dean.

"Holy Song!" Colette shouted as she unleashed her angelic spell. The whole group was now getting a small buff. Their attack, defence and speed was now a little bit higher. It was all Dean needed. Dean's heart was beating like crazy. He only had one chance. If he messed this up, things could turn out real bad for him. The monster was now above ground of the tower. Dean ran towards the monster and used the momentum of the speed he had now to jump up high in the sky. He was going to jump over the monster like this. The monster however flew up towards him and was going to bash him at full speed. Dean hadn't a choice, he would need to release his spell like this.

"Air Blast!" Dean shouted as he spun in the air and shot a blast of air towards the flying beast. The beast was blast against the ground by the huge force of the spell. If the spell hadn't been that strong, the monster would only have been slowed down and it would have hit Dean.

"Thunder Blade!" Genis shouted as he summoned a gigantic blade made out of lightning from the sky that hit the monster.

"Thunder Blade!" Kratos unleashed the same spell on the beast. Colette threw one of her chakrams at full force against the monster. The monster was stunned for a little while. After the blades of lightning exploded and damaged the monsters, Lloyd, Kratos and Sheena rushed forward and began to attack the monster in close range, pinning it down. Dean landed on the ground and rushed towards the monster. The beast made a strange cry and then summoned forth two shadows that hit Kratos and Lloyd. The monster tried to run away again and dashed forward.

"You're not going anywhere!" Sheena shouted as she threw a card at the monster. The monster was suddenly wrapped in shadows and was forced to a halt. Dean was now close enough to attack.

"Serpent Trust!" Dean shouted as he dashed through the monster, using a trust attack. This was one of the combination attacks that Sheena could perform with Lloyd, Kratos and Dean. Dean immediately turned around and kept attacking the monster, using several artes of his in the fight. Sheena, Lloyd and Kratos soon joined him one after another. The Professor used her support spells to increase the attack of the close range fighters. Colette used another Holy Song to further buff up the party. Then a spell of Genis finished the monster off. Everyone was breathing heavily, even Kratos, after the monster had been defeated. It had used its tail and legs to attack the close range fighters, trying to escape, but they wouldn't let it and kept it pinned down.

"That… attack… was reckless Dean." Kratos said to Dean as he trying to catch his breath.

"It… was… the… best… shot… we had…" Dean said back, panting. He sheathed his sword and sat down.

"Man… I'm beat." Lloyd said as he sat down too.

"And we still have to climb down as well." Sheena let out a sigh as she said that. She seemed to be the least exhausted from the three of them. Kratos had regained his pose as well.

"Good job everyone!" Colette said to the rest. She walked towards the altar. The voice of Remiel could be heard once again.

"Chosen of Regeneration… You have done well in reaching this far. Now, offer your prayers at the altar." The commanding voice of the angel could be heard very clearly again. Dean wasn't really paying attention anymore. He just wanted to rest for a while.

"Oh Goddess Martel, great protector and nurturer of the earth, grant me thy strength!" Colette prayed and unleashed her beautiful wings again. For a while nothing happened. There was some kind of white and yellowish energy floating above the altar. It reacted somehow and the Summon Spirit Luna appeared. She was a beautiful blond woman who was holding staff and sitting on a crescent moon made out of mana.

"Where is Aska?" Luna asked.

"Whoa, it talked!" Lloyd said surprised. This was the first time a Summon Spirit had appeared before them. After defeating the monster of the Seal, the outlines of the Summon Spirit could be seen, before Remiel would appear. This time however, the Summon Spirit had appeared out of itself.

"Without Aska, I cannot do anything. I cannot form a pact or a vow. Please… Find Aska… in order to restore my power." Luna continued to say. After that she faded away and disappeared. Everyone was confused by this event, but soon the light from above could be seen again and Remiel appeared at the scene.

"Your journey has been long. You have done well to reach this far, Colette, the Chosen One." Remiel said to Colette. Once again his voice didn't seem filled with gratitude or love. It was always somehow commanding, like the angel felt superior to the ones before him.

"Thank you… Lord Remiel." Colette replied. Now that was strange. Normally the blond girl would call the angel her father, but for some reason she wasn't doing that. Dean wondered why.

"Let us grant you our blessing." the angel continued.

"Thank you." A light from above descended upon Colette and it seemed to give her more angelic powers. She was going to get sick soon and would lose another aspect of her humanity again. Dean clanged his fists together and he got frustrated again. The angel would probably know what it would do to Colette.

"You have taken another step closer to becoming an angel, yet you seem anxious." Remiel then said to Colette. The girl had been more quiet and obeying to him this time.

"Ah, no. I'm very happy." Colette lied to the angel.

"Hmm?" Remiel said, doubting the words of the girl. "Now, Chosen one. Your journey is finally drawing to a close. It is time for you to rejoice. The path to the Tower of Salvation is open!" The angel said excited. It sounded like this was the thing he had been waiting for this whole time. "Head to the Tower of Salvation and offer your prayers of regeneration! Then, you will be able to climb the stairway of heaven."

"The Tower of Salvation?!" Lloyd said surprised.

"The world regeneration is finally going to take place."Genis said.

"Is regeneration… really going to happen?" Sheena asked. The ninja clearly had mixed feelings about the regeneration of the world. Dean wondered if they were going to find out the reason for that soon.

"I shall do as you instruct, Lord Remiel." The blond Chosen said to the angel. The emotions of the girl couldn't be heard as she talked. Colette descended to the floor again and let her wings disappear.

"Colette… Are you sure?" Raine asked the blond girl. The Professor was only going to make things harder for Colette, but Dean understood why the woman asked her this. Dean wanted that she could stop.

"The end is finally in sight. Let's head to the Tower of Salvation." Kratos then said.

"We have to save Pietro first. We promised." Sheena then said to the mercenary.

"I hadn't forgotten." Kratos answered and walked away.

"Dammit!" Both Lloyd and Dean swore. The group walked back to the warp panel.

"Let's take it easy to get out of here and then set up camp." The Professor proposed.

"Are you feeling ill already?" Dean asked the girl as he walked next to her. He wasn't going to let the girl out of his sight for the rest of the day.

"No. I'm fine. Sorry for worrying you." the blond girl replied. Descending the Tower took a long time, but the monsters weren't there anymore. Not that the group was in any state to fight monsters at the moment. That last fight had totally drained them of all of their strength. They were just holding on with pure mental will on getting out of this tower. After a long descent they finally got out of the tower. Almost as soon as Colette stepped outside, her face went pale and she started to fall. Dean caught the girl before she could fall to the ground. He had expected this to happen and had been keeping a close eye on the girl. It seemed like she had been fighting against the fever for some time, without letting anyone notice.

"Professor Sage! It's Colette's Angel Toxicosis." Lloyd said to his teacher. Lloyd too had been keeping a close eye on the girl.

"I see. This place isn't too bad to set up camp. Let's rest here for today." The Professor proposed. It then seemed like Colette tried to say anything, but only a gasp came out.

"What's wrong Colette?" Dean asked the girl as she still was in his arms.

"I would assume she's lot her voice." Kratos then said with his neutral voice.

"What?!" Genis said shocked. The rest of the group didn't know how to respond. Colette let out another gasp.

"Don't try to speak Colette. Maybe your voice will return soon." Dean said with tears in his eyes. He couldn't stand the idea that he would never be able to hear the voice of the sweet girl he liked. He fully took the girl in his arms. Lloyd took out his sleeping gear from his bag. Dean then carefully put the girl down to the floor. "You just rest here. I'm not going to leave your side." Dean grabbed the hand of the girl and tried to comfort her. She just smiled at him weakly. She was burning up again. Dean closed his eyes for a moment and could feel himself falling into sleep. After some time he was woken up by Sheena.

"Dean? Can you help with cooking dinner? Genis has fallen asleep out of exhaustion and now Raine is trying to cook. I don't know if we're going to get food if we let her cook. Don't worry. Kratos and I will gather wood for the fire and Lloyd can look after Colette." Dean let out a yawn and just nodded.

"Don't worry Dean. I'll take care of her." Lloyd said to Dean as he put his hand on Dean's shoulder. Dean smiled to the boy in red. Genis was sleeping in his sleeping gear as well. Colette was still breathing heavily and she was suffering from her fever. Dean walked towards to Professor.

"Professor Sage." The elf woman looked up to Dean. "Let me help you."

"Don't worry Dean, I got this." Raine said to Dean, but he looked back at his with a sceptical look.

"Professor. You know that you're the worst cook of our group." The woman tried to say sometime, but Dean interrupted her. "I'm not saying that you can't help, but let me take the lead and help me with preparing dinner." Raine fell silent after Dean said this. "I appreciate what you're doing, but let me do what I can do best." Dean then grabbed the items he needed for cooking. Kratos and Sheena weren't back with the wood, so they started with cutting the necessary ingredients. The Professor kept cutting her fingers while doing the preparations, but she could fortunately heal herself with her magic.

"I'm sorry that I can't be much of a use right now." The elf woman suddenly said.

"You're being a great help Professor. Don't worry about it. We're going to do this together. If you really want to, I can teach you how to cook."

"Well, it's not that I can't cook… It's just that I like to experiment with cooking. I just can't help not to experiment." the elf woman explained. Her eyes lit up again for a bit.

"I experiment with cooking the whole time." Raine looked up to him with a confused look. "Don't look at me like that. I really do. Genis does it too. Experimenting with cooking is needed if you want to make a dish more delicious or add a certain flavour to it. You just need to know what kind of experiments you can do. You can change the ingredients or the herbs you add to the dish. The thing is that you don't need to do is to make a dish that's supposed to be sweet, sour or really spicy. Just don't throw random stuff together and see how it works out. Experiment within certain rules and boundaries."

"I see. I never looked at it like that. Then, would you like to teach me how to cook Dean?" The woman asked after thinking for a while.

"I would love to. I'll call you over when I'm going to cook. We'll cook together and discuss and experiment together. Just don't do anything without consulting with me before. If you do that even once, I'm going to stop teaching you." The woman wanted to protest, but didn't say anything at the end. At that point Sheena and Kratos appeared with the wood. Dean lighted the fire with his magic and together with Raine they prepared dinner. Dean made sure that he made extra since that the whole group was tired. It had been a long day and the sun was already disappearing beyond the horizon. After they were finished cooking they woke everyone up for dinner. Dean was still sleepy, but the more he filled his stomach with the delicious food he had cooked, the more awake he got. Everyone seemed satisfied after dinner. Colette's fever had faded away again and the girl had more colour again. She had eaten only a bit. She still couldn't taste anything and wouldn't get hungry, so that was to be expected. After everyone was done eating and they had done the dishes Sheena rose to her feet.

"Everyone, I have something to say." The ninja suddenly said.

"Huh?" Lloyd said confused. It was rare for Sheena to do something like this.

"I want to explain to everyone why I was trying to assassinate the Chosen." Sheena then said.

"All right. We're listening." The Professor then said. "Tell us about your homeland. A land that doesn't exist in this world."

"You knew?!" Sheena reacted shocked.

"It's not hard to tell Sheena." Dean then said. "Your clothes are way more different from us. I've never even heard or seen anyone who can fight using cards and you aren't the person to just kill someone unless you've got a really good reason. So tell us."

"That's not all." The Professor said. "You said that Sylvarant will be saved. That must mean that you aren't from Sylvarant."

"You're both right. It's really a shame that your intellect's being wasted here. My homeland is not here, not in Sylvarant." Sheena said with a smile on her face.

"What does that mean?" Genis asked confused.

"My world is called Tethe'alla." Sheena answered.

"Tethe'alla? You mean the moon?" Genis asked now even more confused. This made Sheena laugh.

"Haha, of course not. My world isn't on the moon." This made sure the rest of the group looked confused as well. "Even I really don't understand the specifics, but there is another world that lies entwined with Sylvarant, as shadow is to light. That's Tethe'alla… my world."

"Two entwined worlds?" Raine asked. The story was a bit strange, but Dean could tell that Sheena was telling the truth. So there was another world besides Sylvarant. What did that mean?

"The two worlds lie directly adjacent to each other. They just can't see one another. Our scholars say they exist on shifted dimensions." Sheena said excited. "Anyway, the two worlds can't see or touch each other, but they do in fact exist next to and affect each other."

"What do you mean, 'affect each other'?" Lloyd asked the question Dean wondered about as well.

"They vie for the supply of mana. When one world weakens, the mana from that world flows to the other. As a result, one world is always flourishing, and the other waning. Sort of like an hourglass."

"So Sylvarant is the one who is waning right now." Dean said.

"Yeah. Sylvarant's mana is flowing to Tethe'alla." Sheena continued to tell. "There, Sylvarant is in decline. Without mana, crops won't grow and magic becomes unusable. If there is no mana, the Summon Spirits that protect the world alongside the Goddess Martel can't survive in Sylvarant either. As a result, the world slips even further down the path of destruction."

"Then the Chosen's world regeneration is actually the process of reversing the mana flow?" The Professor asked Sheena. Dean hadn't thought about that just yet. This whole story amazed him, but also frightened him. This was something that went against so many things they got taught at school. It was like they had learnt the wrong things on purpose. What else was being kept from them? That was the thing that frightened him and his gut feeling he had had from ever he was little, that things didn't make sense, was right.

"Exactly." Sheena said. "When the Chosen breaks the seal, the mana flow reverses, and the Summon Spirit that governs the seal awakens. I was sent to prevent the world regeneration from happening." Sheena paused for a while. "I broke through the supposedly impassable dimension fissure for the sake of protecting Tethe'alla." At that point Lloyd stood up.

"In other words, to assure the decline and destruction of Sylvarant?" Lloyd asked the ninja woman.

"You can say that, but your journey of regeneration is also an attempt to destroy Tethe'alla. We're both doing the same thing." Sheena said back fiercely.

"Relax Sheena. I would probably do the same thing you did if Sylvarant was on the line." Dean said to the insulted woman.

"Still, it's hard for me to believe all of this." The Professor said. Dean didn't blame her. She had been taught many things and now someone was saying that a great deal of that wasn't the truth. It was a hard thing to accept. For Dean it was different. He had always felt like something was off.

"I'm the proof. I possess summoning arts that have been lost from this world." Sheena said to persuade everyone. Colette had gotten up and it seemed like she wanted to say something.

"Please don't look at me like that, Colette." Sheena said as though knowing what Colette was about to say. "I know that wasn't your intention. I don't know what I should do either. I came here to protect Tethe'alla, but this world is impoverished and everyone is suffering." Sheena felt hurt while saying those thing. She was too gentle, too caring. She was soft-hearted. Dean wondered why she had become an assassin. Why would Tethe'alla send somehow like her to Sylvarant. "But if I allow the world regeneration to occur, then Tethe'alla will become just like this." The whole time the woman had been in conflict. Dean wondered how long this internal struggle of her had lasted. She probably didn't want to think too much about it and went with the flow of everything that had happened until now.

"But right now, you're helping us, right?" Genis asked Sheena, uncertain what Sheena wanted to do.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I can just abandon Tethe'alla. I… I don't know what to do. Isn't there any other way? A way for Sylvarant, Tethe'alla, and Colette to all be happy?!" This brought a smile on the face of Dean. That girl was too naïve.

"I want to know, too!" Lloyd said. The boy in red had been sucked into the story like everyone else.

"Have you considered that perhaps nothing that convenient exists in the real world?" Raine responded back to the thoughts of Sheena and Lloyd.

"The best thing we can do right now is to save Sylvarant from its current crisis." Kratos then said. The mercenary had been quiet the whole time and it didn't seem like he was that surprised, like the rest of the group. It was true that if they left Sylvarant like it was right now, that it probably would still be destroyed. They had released several Seals and reversed the mana flow, but would that be enough. There were just too many questions that remained unanswered.

"What if we don't regenerate the world and just defeat the Desians?" Lloyd then asked, searching for an answer.

"Although we succeeded in destroying a ranch, we cannot possibly eliminate all the Desians. The mana will eventually be exhausted." Kratos answered. The mercenary was thinking the same things as Dean, but how could he know for sure? Dean suddenly wondered what Kratos knew and if he knew more than the rest of the group. Dean couldn't ask the mercenary. Well, he could try, but it would be useless. The man would say that he wouldn't know anything, even if he knew more than he let out. Kratos was getting suspicious. His behaviour today was strange as well.

"Is mana really that important?" Lloyd then asked. Dean wanted to say something, but Genis beat him to it.

"I suppose only magic users and scholars worry about it, but mana is even more important to life than water. Without it, the land will die. Mana is the source material which composes everything. At least that's what I've been taught." Genis told Lloyd.

"Unfortunately, the Giant Tree of ever-flowing mana in fairy tales doesn't exist in the real world." Raine explained. "We live by chipping away at the limited amount of available mana. Why do you think the ancient magitechnology was lost?" Raine asked.

"Because mana disappeared from the world." Sheena answered the question.

"Correct. Magitechnology consumes large amounts of mana. If things continue the way they are now, Sylvarant will eventually lose its mana just as it lost its magitechnology and be destroyed." The Professor further explained. At that moment Colette started to write something on Lloyd's hand. Dean was sitting near the Professor and Lloyd was the closed one to Colette.

"Colette?" Lloyd asked confused. "R…e…m…i… Ah! You're trying to spell something, right?" The girl was clever. She had no pen and paper at the moment, so she was writing on Lloyd's hand. The boy could see what she was writing. Not bad, Lloyd.

"I'll… try… asking… Remiel… if… there… is… a… way… to… save… the… two… worlds." Lloyd said, translating the things Colette was writing on his hand.

"If it doesn't work out, I may have to kill you after all." Sheena said. It seemed like the woman had made up her mind. If Tethe'alla would remain on the line, she would do whatever was needed to save her world.

"Sheena!" Genis said shocked by the reaction of the ninja.

"When… that… time… comes… I… may… fight… back… because… I… love… Sylvarant… too." Lloyd translated for Colette. Sheena smiled to that.

"I understand. You intend to become an angel, no matter what, don't you?" Colette smiled at that question, but her eyes were sad. The whole story must have been a great shock to the girl. She was going through all these horrible things in order to save Sylvarant. Now she knew that saving this world, meant the destruction of another. The situation still hadn't changed though. If they would stop with the World Regeneration now, Sylvarant would be destroyed. They couldn't let that happen. Too many lives and too many beloved ones were on stake. It now seemed like the discussing was over and people were getting ready to sleep. Dean walked over to the Professor. He still had some things he wanted to say.

"Hey Dean. Hard to believe all of that, isn't it?" The Professor said to Dean. Her face was puzzled and it seemed she was still thinking really hard.

"Kind of." Dean replied. He didn't want her to know that the whole story wasn't that much of a surprise to him, that he had always known that something was amiss. "Say, Professor. You do realise that we've been told lies this whole time, don't you?"

"What are you getting at Dean?" the teacher asked back.

"Cruxis…" Dean answered. "They probably know. I have so many questions and they will probably have the answers. When we get to the Tower of Salvation I'm going to force Remiel to answer my questions." Dean said with determination in his eyes in his voice.

"Dean…" The Professor just said back.

"I'm going to learn the truth and then tell everyone it. The lies Cruxis told us must be faded away from this world." Dean had another goal he was working to. If the angel would resist and fight, Dean would defeat the angel, cut his wings off and force the truth out of him. He promised himself that. "Well, I'm going to sleep Professor. I'll see you in the morning."

"Dean…"

"What is it Professor?"

"No, it's nothing." Dean was puzzled, but didn't pay it any attention. He went over to Colette instead. He wanted to stay near her for now. He was still so worried about the girl. The girl smiled when she saw him, but looked down.

"Colette… Don't worry about it. I'll learn the truth and find a way where you won't have to keep suffering like this. I'll squeeze the truth out of Remiel. I promise." He then put his sleeping gear next to the one of Colette and lay down. He wanted to stay up a bit longer and look at her beautiful face, but sleep took over him and he fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes.

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><p><strong>So the Exsphere of Dean is slowly turning into a Cruxis Crystal. That was what caused all those changes. <strong>

**Colette has lost her voice... Poor Colette... They have to travel to Lake Umacy and Thoda Geyser and then back to Hima as well. She won't be able to speak for a while. **

**Uploading the chapters will take a long time from now on, because I can only write in the weekends and not all of the weekends. The next update will take a while, so hang in there guys. Don't worry, I'm planning on finishing this story. It will take several years to finish though. Tales of Symponia is a long game.**

**Until next time!**


	12. Saving Pietro

**Well, this chapter took longer than expected and is longer than I expected it would be. Several things just needed to happen before the group would get to Hima and save Pietro.**

**I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well. I hope I can bring out the next chapter faster next time. It could be that the next chapter will be the shortest one until now, but one of the most important one up until now. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. I only own OC Dean.**

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><p>When Dean woke up that next morning Colette wasn't lying next to him anymore. It was still dark and almost time to go hunting. The rest of the group was still asleep. He would wake Sheena up soon, but he wanted to look for Colette first. Since that the area around the Tower of Mana was really safe they had decided not to put up a night guard. It was really needed, because everyone had been exhausted from the long day. A lot of them had been put to thinking as well after that Sheena explained that there was another world besides Sylvarant. The world called Tethe'alla… Dean wondered what kind of a world it was. According to Sheena the world would be flourishing. Hunger shouldn't be a part of that world. Dean wondered if that world would truly be peaceful or that conflict existed in that world as well. The Desians weren't a part of that world. Sheena had said that herself. Dean wandered around for a bit until he found the blond girl he was looking for. She was sitting in the grass staring at the stars. Dean approached her and sat beside her. He greeted her, but she didn't seem to notice his presence. The girl seemed to be deep in thought. Dean didn't blame her. All this time she had been thinking that she was saving Sylvarant from a certain doom. Now she knew that releasing the Seals meant that they were reversing the mana flow from Tethe'alla to Sylvarant. Dean wondered if the Goddess Martel was even real after what all that had happened and they had learnt. Colette had always been a devoted learner and follower of the Church of Martel. Was her faith now shaken? Was she doubting the Goddess Martel as well? She couldn't sleep anymore and she had probably been thinking the whole night. What kind of crazy thoughts were hunting her mind? After a while she put her hand on his hand and looked at him. Dean thought he saw tears in her eyes, although she couldn't cry anymore. She had been thinking too much.<p>

"You didn't know Colette. We all didn't know." Dean said to her. "After this journey we'll find a way how to stop this process. How to make sure that both worlds share the amount of mana, so that both worlds can live in peace. We'll even defeat the Desians." There was a long silence. Colette was looking at the stars again. It was really dark, but somehow Dean could still see all around him. "Colette… Don't blame yourself for this. This whole mess isn't your fault. I don't know whose fault it is. We just don't know enough. Remiel… He will probably know. Just don't give up on hope. We'll find a way. I promise you that." Colette turned around again and smiled at him. The look in her eyes told Dean that she was feeling a little bit better. Still, the girl was sad. After sitting for a little while Dean got up. Colette looked up a bit confused. "I have to go hunting Colette. Supplies are running low and I hope we'll find something worthwhile this morning." She smiled at him and waved, telling him that he needed to go. It was hard for Dean to leave her like that. When he got back at the camp Sheena had just woken up. He smiled at her as a way of greeting. She smiled back at him the same way. A bitter smile. The two of them grabbed their hunting gear and quietly left everyone behind. It wasn't a good day for hunting. They hadn't set up any traps for small monsters the evening before, so they had to try hunting. There were enough monsters they came across and aggressive ones at that, but those weren't eatable. The monsters were the insect like monsters that the group had been fighting in this area. The worst thing was that there was no area where they could hide or sneak up on monsters. The whole area was one great open field. Most of the monsters could see better in the night than Sheena and Dean could. They could see and hear them coming from miles. Dean and Sheena knew they were at a disadvantage that morning, but they didn't want to give up. After being attacked by the fifth group of monsters that morning they decided to go back to camp. The only monsters they encountered that morning were hunters and not prey. Without any prey and no eatable plants or herbs in the area they headed back to camp empty handed. The mood for that day was glum already.

"No luck with hunting? It's okay. I expected as much." Raine said as Sheena and Dean were back from hunting. The two of them were tired. It had been the first time they had been attacked that much while hunting. Genis quickly prepared some sandwiches for them as soon as he saw how tired they were.

"That's one of the last times I will go out hunting if things won't improve tomorrow." Sheena said frustrated and tired.

"There is some sense in what you're saying Sheena." Kratos said then. Dean look confused at the mercenary. "This area is unsuited for proper hunting." Kratos explained. "Once we get to a better area we'll continue with the hunting. I have some hunting skills myself. I will join you."

"You can hunt as well?" Lloyd asked the mercenary.

"In this trade of mine you pick up a lot of skills."

"I thought you said in the beginning of our journey that you never cooked." Dean remembered.

"Well, what I meant to say is that I myself never cooked. The people I travelled with taught me some things about cooking and I often found myself hunting during my travels, because the supplies we brought along weren't enough." Kratos explained.

"Right…" Genis said with a voice like he didn't believe the man. It did sounded like Kratos was making up some kind of excuse. Dean felt like making a remark to the man, but since they were talking about Kratos here, he probably shouldn't do that.

"You sure you're not making any excuses?" Lloyd asked the mercenary. Kratos glared at the boy. "Just checking…" the boy in red said after he noticed the glare the mercenary was giving him.

"Let's just have breakfast, okay?" Genis said, not wanting a fight this early in the morning. Dean was already enjoying his sandwich, so he wasn't complaining. Colette was back at the camp as well. She didn't have to hide that she couldn't sleep anymore, but Dean was still relieved that he saw her back at the camp. The group ate their breakfast while talking a bit about yesterday. Lloyd seemed to be quite energetic. It seemed that he and Kratos hadn't been practising that morning. Dean just wanted to reach their next destination as soon as possible. He was tired of this whole journey. He caught himself thinking that he wanted to reach the Tower of Salvation as soon as possible. Colette would turn into a true angel there, whatever that meant and they would be able to ask Remiel the questions they struggled with at that moment. If the angel didn't want to answer, they would just force the answers out of him. Dean would have no problem beating the angel up. He didn't like the angel and especially not the feeling that the angel somehow felt better than them. Like he was of a superior race and they were just measly creatures before him. It just reminded Dean too much of the hate and the attitude the Desians had for humans.

After breakfast the group headed towards the area around Luin. The group still didn't want to go to Luin itself. They could help the people who would still be lingering around the destroyed town a bit, but they were low on supplies themselves. The image and state of the town would only make them feel worse and the general mood wasn't that great at the moment. Everyone was still thinking about what they had learned the evening before. Lloyd started that day enthusiastic however. After an hour of travelling that enthusiasm was gone already. Genis and Dean made fun of Lloyd because of that again, because this always happened with Lloyd around. He got into things with full of enthusiasm and energy and after a few hours he was tired already or he grew bored with it. It was almost becoming a game between Dean and Genis on predicting how long it would take before Lloyd would get bored with something. Joking around a bit lightened the mood a little bit and Dean didn't feel so down anymore. Colette was trying to join in the fun as she now found pen and paper. She was writing on it and showed it to the person she wanted to 'talk' to as a way of communicating that way. Her handwriting was quite lovely and much better than the rough writing of Dean. Dean would never become an artist. He didn't need and want to. Being a warrior who could protect his beloved ones suit him just fine. He was thinking of becoming a chef when peace would return to Sylvarant, but he wasn't sure he wanted to turn his hobby into his job. This day they didn't encounter many monsters. It seemed like most of the monsters in the area preferred the night rather than the day. Dean wasn't complaining. He had fought off enough monsters while hunting that morning. At the end of the day the scenery had already changed a little bit. There were more trees around, less open fields and not just grass, but some sand to walk on as well. The road between Luin and Asgard was in sight as well. They would probably follow that road towards the House of Salvation that was between Asgard and Luin. From there they would go to Lake Umacy and try to figure a way how to free the unicorn. Dean had no clue whatsoever how to free the unicorn. Genis already explained that his magic wasn't strong enough for that. Dean had been thinking about using wind magic and some kind of barrier around his head to form a bubble that would provide him with enough oxygen. He would be able to swim to the unicorn like that, but the unicorn was heavily trapped underwater. Dean would need to use his magic to keep the bubble up, so he wouldn't be able to use his magic to help and even though he was stronger, he doubted that he would be able to free the unicorn using strength alone. He had been thinking of any other options, but none of them would probably help. Still, they needed the horn of the unicorn. They wouldn't be able to save Pietro otherwise. Dean then got a note from Colette which said 'What's on your mind?' with a simple drawing next to it. The drawing was of a face which somehow looked a bit concerned.

"I was thinking about how to free the unicorn." Dean said back to the blond girl. Colette didn't look sad anymore and the smile on her face right now looked genuine. Dean wondered what brought upon the change in her.

"You were thinking about that as well?" Genis asked Dean. Dean nodded to the boy.

"Well yeah. I was thinking about using magic to be able to breathe underwater, but I only have enough mana to do that on myself. I can't do it on someone else as well. Even if I would be able to breathe underwater, I doubt it I'm strong enough to free the unicorn from the trap he's in." Dean explained to the boy.

"My magic isn't strong enough as well…" the young magician said. He looked glum. Until now the magic the young elf genius could produce have the helped the party greatly. To be able to pull of strong magic spells like that on such a young age was a great achievement. Even though his powers were strengthened by his Exspheres and he's had to fight his way through hordes together with the rest, resulting in strong growth in magic spells, he still was stronger or as strong as some Desian magicians.

"Maybe if Kratos you and me work together we could pull it off." Dean suggested.

"I doubt it." Kratos then said. The mercenary had been listening in their conversation. "The unicorn is trapped deep underwater. Our magic has its limits. One of those limits is the range of our spells. Using magic spells underwater is something that I've never tried before and will probably be a hinder to us as well. We can always try." That Kratos was saying things like that made Dean hesitate even more whether they would be able to release the unicorn. Even if they would be able to release the unicorn, obtaining its horn was another thing. Colette then showed Dean another note. 'Don't worry. We'll figure something out!' was on the note. Dean smiled back to the blond girl. She was right. They shouldn't lose hope. They hadn't even tried yet.

"Well… There might be something I could do…" Sheena softly said. The rest didn't hear, but Dean and Colette heard it.

"Huh? Do you know a way Sheena?" Dean asked the ninja. Asking this question made Sheena nervous for some reason and she looked away.

"No. It's nothing. Forget I said something." Sheena said with her face facing the other side. This made Dean confused, but he decided not to ask any further. Putting pressure on Sheena on occasions like this made the young woman even more nervous and she would eventually flee and make sure you wouldn't be able to get close to her. She was really good at avoiding people if she wanted. Dean learned this when he tried to find out where the girl really was from when Sheena had just joined the group.

Dean and the rest of the group discussed how to get to the unicorn the rest of the journey towards the House of Salvation. Lake Umacy was about a bit more than a day's travel from the House of Salvation. They wanted to resupply there if it was possible as well, but they doubted it. Most of the things they could get from hunting, but they had to buy things like bread, several vegetables and fruit. They were almost out of these things. Fruit didn't last long and that was gone for quite some time. Bread and vegetables were getting low. Herbs, eatable plants and meat they could get from hunting. Fortunately, Dean and Sheena had more luck in hunting the rest of the week before they reached the House of Salvation of that area. Eating only meat is something the party would like to avoid, maybe except for Lloyd. The young swordsman loved meat. He had no problem with eating and could probably only eat his whole life and have no problem with it at all. Sure meat was tasty, but eating only meat… That was something Dean would like to avoid. The week passed by quickly. Dean got used to communicating with Colette with her writing notes. They would need to buy paper and pens for her at the House of Salvation as well, as she like to communicate almost as much by writing on paper as she did by talking. She was running out of paper and pens that worked. Every two days Dean would practise his swordsmanship and magic with Kratos. The other night he would play card games with Colette, Genis and Lloyd or he would try to catch some extra sleep after dinner in case he had to do the night guard. With the end of the journey in sight Kratos seemed to be on edge for some reason. He said that he was worried about getting his next job. If World Regeneration would occur, then there would be less and less people who would need the services of a mercenary. He was worried that he might had to switch jobs. He also explained that he liked being a mercenary. Dean found that hard to imagine. In the beginning he had been ordering everyone around. It felt like the others slowed him down and if he would have been on his own with Colette, that they would have regenerated the world already. That was the feeling Dean was getting out of Kratos. The mercenary also seemed to get annoyed almost the entire time because of Lloyd. Somehow the boy in red blurted something out or did something stupid that made Kratos annoyed. Dean sometimes thought that Kratos was acting like some strict father who was trying to raise his stupid son. The thoughts sometimes made Dean laugh. When he explained Colette about his thoughts she really thought for a short while that Kratos could be Lloyd's father. Dean burst out laughing when the blond girl told him that. The whole thought had been a joke on his part, so he had to laugh that Colette actually took it serious. Lloyd was taking over some of Kratos his traits though. Kratos always had one of his hands on his swords when he was walking or resting. The mercenary always seemed aware and ready for a surprise attack. Lloyd now was doing the same thing a lot more. Lloyd had grown in this journey, but he still was not taking things serious most of the time. He seemed like a little kid when he was like that. Dean actually liked that about Lloyd. Even though the journey was hard and they had been through a lot of things, the boy somehow stayed himself. Lloyd did have this worried look a lot more on his face when he was looking at Colette. Still, his enthusiasm and spirit didn't waver. Dean was often lost in thought and got dragged down by the whole state that Colette was in. He just couldn't stand it. The nightmares he still had from time to time didn't cheer him up as well. That was the reason why Dean really loved playing around with Colette, Lloyd and Genis. They cheered him up and made sure he didn't think too much into things and get depressed because of them. He was glad he had such great friends.

"Hello, Earth to Dean? Are you listening?" Sheena asked him. It was morning and they were about to go hunting. They would reach the House of Salvation that afternoon and Dean was looking forward to it. He had been lost in thought and was still half-asleep that morning.

"Sorry Sheena." Dean said as he let out a big yawn. "I'll get my stuff."

"Really, what are you spacing out for? That isn't like you Dean." the young woman said back to him.

"It's just that we're almost at the House of Salvation. I look forward to a day where we're not travelling the whole time. A day of working on my homework and relaxing for a bit doesn't sound bad you know." Dean said as he getting his things together and checking if he hadn't forgotten anything. It didn't seem like it, but he was a really forgetful person. Back in Iselia Linda had scolded him several times for forgetting something again. Because it annoyed her so much she drilled into Dean that he had to check at least three times if he really had everything he needed. In the beginning Dean used notes to help him not to forget something, but those notes became mental notes and he still was used to checking things three times before he would set out. Because of this, getting his stuff ready took a longer time than the others. Nobody had noticed that he was later meeting up with everyone, because Lloyd was always late.

"You got everything?" Sheena asked when it took longer for Dean to get ready than she expected.

"Yeah, I've got everything." Dean said after he had checked for the third if he had everything.

"Let's go then." Sheena had said back in Asgard that Dean was a better hunter than he was, but it didn't seem like that anymore the last days. She was better at hiding her presence and smell and sneaking up on monsters. Dean was better at picking spots for setting traps and setting the traps up, but that was because of his experience. Sheena was improving on that as well. She would probably be a better hunter than Dean when they would reach the Tower of Salvation. This thought made Dean smile for some reason. With that smile on his face the two of them went hunting.  
>It truly had been a good hunt when Dean and Sheena returned that morning. They had come across a dragon like monster. This one small compared to what Dean had read about dragons. It had no wings and seemed suitable to be riding upon, but Dean wondered if someone could really tame a dragon. Well, there was this guy with the Dragon Tours in Hima, so it seemed like it was possible. This dragon was wild however. They ambushed the dragon from two sides, but it was hard to defeat. It was though and even after getting big wounds from the first attack the monster attacked back with his whole strength. They tried to attack from the front and the back, but the dragon was adept at fighting multiple foes as he could defend as well with his tail as with his biting and fireball attacks. They then decided it was best that Dean would finish it with magic as Sheena would distract the monster. The former assassin nimbly dodged, evaded and jumped over the monster, making sure it was only paying attention to her. Using a powerful lightning spell Dean defeated the monster. They had to cut through a thick layer of fat to get to the juicy meat of monster. The monster was quite big and even with the two of them it was though bringing back all the meat they had cut off from the formidable foe.<p>

"Whoa! That's a lot of meat!" Lloyd said when Sheena and Dean put down the bags full of meat they made from the skin of the dragon.

"That's dragon meat." Dean said with a grin on his face.

"I've heard that the meat of a dragon meat is really tasty and expensive." Raine said after examining the meat.

"It smells…" Genis said staying back from the meat.

"It will come in handy." Kratos then said. "We can use this meat to trade for the supplies we need. Well done the two of you." Did Kratos just gave a compliment. Sheena and Dean looked at each other in order to confirm what they just heard. They then gave a broad smile. Colette then gave a note to both Dean and Sheena which said 'I knew you could do it'. Now the two of them were embarrassed. They just got lucky. Dragons were a rare breed, but still strong monsters that had killed several travellers and people who were trying to hunt for them. They divided the meat among the group. The meat had a strange smell, but Dean didn't think it was a bad one. Genis didn't like the smell of the meat though. The Professor wasn't so fond of it as well. The rest wasn't really complaining about it. Maybe the smell was different to them because they were elves. Even with the increased weight on their shoulders the party arrived early in the afternoon at the House of Salvation. They rented some rooms there. Kratos and Raine then set out to negotiate, trying to get as such supplies from the dragon meat. They made sure to keep a portion to themselves, eager to find out how the meat tasted. The rest of the group separated as well. Genis wanted to read a book he had taken from the Tower of Mana. The Professor had forbidden them to take any books from that place, but Dean had still taken the books which would help him learning magic spells with him. Genis had apparently taken a few books with him as well. Dean thought he had seen The Professor take a few books with her as well. Even though she had said that they weren't allowed to take anything with them, she still couldn't resist the temptation. Lloyd went to his room to hang around. He didn't feel like doing anything at all. Sheena also went to her room saying she had something to do. Dean and Colette decided to stay together and work on homework together. Dean finished his assignment and helped Colette on hers. After that Dean tended to his sword. He had forgotten to look after it the last couple of days. It was a silver sword and it wouldn't rust, but it still could get dirty and dull. He decided to sharpen the blade for a little bit. Colette watched as he worked on it. It seemed just being together with him was enough for the girl. Butterflies filled the stomach of Dean every time he looked into her eyes. He too was satisfied with just staying together with the blond girl. They were still travelling around a lot. They couldn't really spend a day together. Colette couldn't feel anything, so holding hands seemed a bit pointless, but Colette sometimes grabbed Dean's hand when they were sitting next to each other. Dean missed the voice of the girl. He didn't say that to her of course. It would make her sad. He wouldn't want to make her sad. Enough things made her sad already. After that it was dinner already. Dean, Colette, Lloyd and Genis played a card game the rest of the evening. At some point Sheena joined in as well. Raine and Kratos seemed to paying attention to their own business. Dean went to bed early as he felt tired, even though travelling was much more exhausting than an afternoon like this. He dreamed of the peaceful days back in Iselia, back Colette and Dean were a couple in that dream as well and they spend a wonderful day together.

Dean woke up with a smile on his face as he still remembered the dream. He wished that the dream was his true reality and not the one he was living in now. It was still dark outside, but it was the same time he would get up normally when he would go hunting together with Sheena. He was sleeping in the same room as Kratos. The mercenary was still asleep. Dean couldn't get back to sleep, quietly got dressed and left the room. He decided to go outside as some fresh air would do him good. Outside he saw Colette gazing at the stars. She walked towards her and sat down next to her. She didn't have pen and paper with her, so she couldn't communicate with him. Since it was still dark and nobody was up yet, Dean didn't mind. Just sitting next to her in silence was enough for him. They sat there for a while, until the door of the House of Salvation opened as Kratos and Lloyd came out of it.

"Can't we skip for one day?" Lloyd said in a complaining and tired voice.

"You rested enough yesterday. You slacked off the entire afternoon. You need the training. You will get rusty otherwise." Kratos said back to the boy in red.

"Ah man." Lloyd said in return. His eyes were still half closed and he walking almost at half the speed compared to Kratos. The mercenary had to wait for him several times.

"Mind if I join you in training?" Dean asked the two swordsmen when they got closer. Colette then looked at Dean with a question on her face. "And can Colette watch?" Dean knew the question just by looking the girl in the eyes. They had grown up as friends after all.

"I don't mind." Kratos said.

"Actually, if I can spar with Dean I don't mind training." Lloyd suddenly said excited. Dean wondered why the boy in red would get excited about something like that. Lloyd looked at Dean intensely, like he was challenging him. If Lloyd wanted a challenge, he would get a challenge. Dean had brought his sword with him. He brought the sword with him everywhere. Even the toilet, if there was one in the neighbourhood. There weren't any toilets around while travelling, so they had to do those things in the open. They would stand behind a tree or go a little bit further of course. The four of them went towards an open field where the sound of the fighting wouldn't reach the House of Salvation. First they a bit of a warming-up. Colette even joined in that. Lloyd said to Dean that the girl was watching and sometimes joining them since they left Asgard. Dean didn't blame Colette. Time went by faster training or watching someone train than sitting alone staring at stars. After the warming-up Lloyd challenged Dean to a sparring battle. Kratos had brought along wooden swords. They were from the House of Salvation apparently. Lloyd and Dean wouldn't have to hold down fighting with the wooden swords. Dean still strengthened the wooden swords with magic, so they wouldn't break. He also put a magic defensive barrier around Dean and Lloyd just to be safe. He didn't feel like walking around with bruises the whole day. After Dean was done with the spells, Lloyd charged at Dean. There was a grin on the face of the young swordsman. For some reason Lloyd had been looking forward to sparring with Dean. Dean could still easily see through the attacks of Lloyd and evaded or blocked the attacks. After being on the defensive for some blows Dean got a little bit more aggressive and attacked Lloyd more. Lloyd too had become good at dodging and blocking. They were evenly matched like that and Dean enjoyed the sparring battle a lot. Lloyd had become a true dual wielder as both his arms were as strong and the precision of each blow, whether it was with the left arm or right arm was the same. After a while Lloyd jumped back and stopped. Dean stopped as well.

"Dean, you're holding back." Lloyd then said to Dean. "I don't know if you did it on purpose or not, but I want to fight you while going all out." Lloyd had a serious look on his face and was getting into a battle position again. It was true that Dean hadn't been given his all during that sparring battle, but it was a practice battle. Apparently, this battle was important to Lloyd. The boy in red wanted to know how much he had grown lately and wanted to spar with Dean. Lloyd wanted to beat Dean. Now that Dean knew this, he now attacked first and took the battle seriously. The smile on his face was gone and his blows were strong and fast. He left no openings while attacking. Lloyd was forced on the defensive. The smile on his face was gone as well. The clashing of the two swordsman continued. Lloyd tried to get on the attacking side and not on the defensive site, but Dean wouldn't let him. Lloyd also suffered some blows, but he wasn't backing down. He was truly giving it his all. Somehow Lloyd managed to evaded one of Dean's attacks by rolling to the side. Lloyd retaliated and Dean was forced on the defensive site. It seemed like the battle had turned into the favour of Lloyd. Dean was just waiting for an opening. It took a while, but the opening finally came. Dean struck once, used full force twice to push back both of the swords of Lloyd, breaking through his guard and then used a trust which hit the chest of Lloyd, sending the boy backwards and unto the ground. The sparring battle was over. Dean helped Lloyd back up again.

"You've improved a lot Lloyd. Keep up the good work and you'll beat me. Just challenge me and I won't hold back. You'll win fair and square." Dean said, complementing the swordsman. He meant every word of it. If Lloyd was going to keep on improving like this, he would surely be able to beat Dean one day.

"You're strong as ever. Thanks for the battle Dean." Lloyd said back to Dean. Normally Lloyd wouldn't say something like that when he lost. He would get down. Dean was impressed. He had improved on that matter as well.

"I think Dean is right. You will be able to defeat him. Your defence and your footing is much better. In the future battles between you two will be settled by the proper use of your artes and not by the skills of your sword." Kratos said to the both of them. As far as Kratos went, that was a compliment towards Lloyd. Dean grinned.

"Want a rematch Lloyd?" Dean asked. He had enjoyed the battle and it was still too early to stop with the training. At that monsters they heard a roar of a monster. From all sides they were surrounded by monsters. Dean wondered what had gotten into the monsters. Training was over. They would have to fight these monsters first. "I guess they don't want us to. Why don't we show them how strong we are when we're fighting together Lloyd?" Dean dropped the wooden sword and grabbed his own sword. Somehow holding his own sword felt so much better than holding some wooden sword.

"Sounds good to me." Lloyd unsheathed his swords as well. Colette didn't have any weapons with her. She was already preparing for one of her angelic spells though.

"You two confront the monsters. I'll protect the Chosen." Kratos said to the boys. That was the sign they had been waiting for. Dean and Lloyd rushed forward. With their first strike they already beat one of the monsters. They worked towards perfectly and defeated the monsters one by one. Using their artes the monsters didn't stand a chance against their attacks. A roar could be heard again and now the monster fled away. The darkness of the night was now slowly fading away. Another dragon could be seen approaching the group. It was much bigger than the one Sheena and Dean had defeated. Somehow it had sensed the defeat of one of his kin. The dragon let out another roar and fired a fireball towards Colette. Dean had already gathered some mana while fighting the monsters.

"Fire Wall!" Dean shouted as a wall of fire appeared between Colette and the fireball. The wall of fire stopped the attack of the monster. Still, this dragon would not be a foe they would be able to defeat easily. Dean knew that the skin of the monster was though, that a thick layer of fat protected its internal organs and that its magic resistance was big. Colette then finished her spell and shot four pink rings towards the dragon. The dragon got hit and let out another roar, but didn't seem to be damaged that much.

"Don't underestimate this monster. It is though. This one is much bigger than the one Sheena and I faced. It won't be defeated easily. Don't be reckless." Dean said to the others. Dean started to prepare for a magic spell as well. Colette had begun with preparing another angelic spell as soon as the last one had hit. Kratos nodded towards Lloyd and they confronted the dragon up close.

"Cross Trust!" They shouted as they both used a Sonic Trust on the monster, making a cross as they landed the attack and ended up at the back of the monster. They attacked the monster from behind, Lloyd on the left side of the tail and Kratos on the right side of the tail. The attacks staggered the dragon, so that is was unable to move during the attack of the two swordsmen.

"Demon Fang!" the swordsmen unleashed a small shockwave of mana that hit the dragon.  
>"Lightning Blade!" Kratos trusted his sword into the dragon and quickly pulled it out as a bolt of lightning struck the monster.<br>"Huricane Trust!" Lloyd also trusted his sword into the monster, but he didn't need to pull his sword away as a burst of wind ripped off the flesh where the tip of the sword was.  
>"Hell Pyre!" Kratos jumped up and shot a fireball from his sword at the spot where the lightning bolt had created a wound, making the wound even bigger.<br>"Raging Beast!" Lloyd made a three hundred sixty spin with mana at the end of his sword and then let out a blast of mana in the form of a ferocious beast, further increasing the gap of the wound he had already created with his previous attacks. The last attack of Lloyd knocked the dragon on the ground. The dragon was quickly on its feet and turned around to face Lloyd and Kratos, ready to attack them, but now Dean was now finished preparing his magic attack.

"Angel Feather!" Colette first send out four pink rings that struck the monster again.

"Wind and Lightning, fuse together to slay my foes… Thunder Arrow!" Dean recited the words needed for the spell. Three orbs made out of lightning surrounded the monster, forming a triangle. The orbs of lightning were linked to each other with lightning, trapping the monster inside the range of the spell. Several powerful bolts of lightning then struck down from the sky unto the monster, severely damaging it. The attack paralysed the dragon. Kratos and Lloyd were now attacking the neck area of the dragon, trying to finish it off like this, but the dragon shook them away and unleashed a fire breath attack, but Kratos and Lloyd evaded the attack by jumping over it.  
>"Lloyd, combination number two!" Dean shouted to Lloyd. Lloyd jumped up to the sky as Dean unleashed another lightning magic spell.<br>"Lightning Tiger Blade!" lightning bolts struck the dragon several times as Lloyd brought down both of his sword around the neck, cutting off the head of the dragon. The rest of the body fell down to the ground. The party sheathed their weapons.  
>"That was a nice way to end the training." Lloyd said with a grin on his face.<p>

"We worked well together. It was because of our teamwork that we were able to defeat the dragon so quickly." Kratos said.

"So what do we do with it?" Dean asked the rest of the group as he looked at the faces one by one. "Shall I skin it and get the meat out of it?"

"I don't think that is necessary. We traded the dragon meat we already had for the supplies we needed. We don't need it for further trading. The weight of the meat will slow us down too much as well. We also have some dragon meat left for ourselves." Kratos explained.

"Well, we can't leave it lying around like this. Dragons are rare and don't show themselves. This one is also bigger than the one Sheena and I faced. It might be the mother or father. It probably found its way here by following its nose. The meat of these dragons have an unique smell. I think that's how it found it." Dean thought out loud.

"So you think other dragons will be lured here by the smell and attack the people at the House of Salvation?" Lloyd asked.

"There is sense in what you're saying Dean. Shall we burn it then?" Kratos asked.

"I think that is for the best. Can you do it Kratos?" The mercenary nodded. He unleashed a fire spell called Eruption on the corpse of the dragon until it was reduced to ashes. With the monster dead its magic resistance had disappeared and the fire quickly consumed the dead body of the dragon.

The sun was now slowly rising above the horizon. The party went back to the House of Salvation. It had been a short training, but it just didn't feel right to continue training after burning down the body of the dragon. Breakfast was served quite early at the House of Salvation, so the group didn't have to wait long before they could eat. After eating breakfast they waited for the others to wake up. Dean already checked if he had packed everything he needed. After that he played a card game with Lloyd and Colette for a while until the others were done as well. Fully refreshed the party set out towards Lake Umacy. Although Kratos, Lloyd, Colette and Dean had fought the dragon in the morning, they had almost no monster encounters that day, which was rare for the area they were travelling in. It seemed the closer they got to the lake, the less monsters there were around. Like the unicorn had the same effect of a Holy Bottle. The Holy Bottle is an item most travellers use. It's a magic like potion that you need to open and carry around. It release some kind of aura or some kind of smell that the monsters don't like. Using a Holy Bottle keeps monsters away from you, but the effect of the item only lasts for a few hours. So you need a lot of Gald, the currency of Sylvarant, in order to keep using these bottles. There is another item called the Dark Bottle. If you open it, it releases an aura or scent that attracts monsters. Especially hunters and mercenaries who are looking for a specific monster to slay use the Dark Bottle. Both the Dark Bottle and the Holy Bottle are expensive items. The group did find some in the dungeons. They used some of the Holy Bottles, but none of the Dark Bottles. Dean guessed The Professor and Kratos sold the Dark Bottles for some extra Gald. When it was getting dark and the group decided to stop travelling they were only an hour's worth of travel away from the lake. They were getting near the forest in which the lake lay. It was really nice and peaceful in the area. Dean helped with gathering wood for the fire. They were going to eat the dragon meat that evening and Dean was looking forward to it. Lloyd and Genis were going to do the cooking. Lloyd wasn't that good at cooking, but when it came to dishes with meat, he somehow was able to cook the meat the best way. He himself didn't even know how he did it. Genis said it was because Lloyd only lived by instinct and his instinct told him to eat only meat. Dean knew that wasn't true, but he had no explanation as well. It was truly strange. If those two would cook together, then the food would get delicious. Genis did ask for instruction on how to cook Dragon Meat just to be sure. The cooks at the House of Salvation said that it was like baking steak. It was best of the meat was baked rare. Dean studied one of his books on magic in the light of the fire until dinner was ready.

"Dinner is ready!" Genis shouted in order to gather everyone around. Dean quickly put his book away and hurried towards Genis and Lloyd.

"Whoa! Dean, what's up with you?" Lloyd asked as Dean almost came running towards them. "You that hungry?"

"It's just that I'm so curious on how it tastes." Dean explained, eager for his plate of food. Genis wasn't hurried and first divided the food in equal portions on the plates.

"I have to admit, it is really tasty. Even though it really smells…" Genis said.

"You already tasted it?" Dean asked surprised. Genis grinned and showed a proud face.

"A good cook always tastes his food. How else can you know if the food you've prepared is good or is missing something?" Genis was right. Dean always tasted his food while cooking. Sometimes he had forgotten to put some herbs in it or a certain ingredient. By tasting it he would know what was missing or if he was experimenting with the food, if the flavours matched.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Dean said the young elf boy. Genis then gave Dean his plate of food. Dean still waited until everyone got their plates. He wasn't an animal that didn't have any table manners. When everyone got their food Dean immediately tasted a piece of the meat. The meat was tender and juicy. He could taste the herbs that were added to the meat perfectly and it all mixed together in a perfect harmony. This truly was the best piece of meat he had ever eaten before. He slowly enjoyed every bite of the dinner of that evening. After his plate was empty he was full and content. The small things like this really made him appreciate live. He could forget all the suffering and pain in the world and the pain he himself had gone through just by enjoying small things like a good cooked meal.

"So how was it?" Lloyd asked Dean after everyone was done with eating.

"Best piece of meat ever." Dean responded. "So juicy, so tender, so perfect…" Colette came sitting next to him and handed him a note saying 'I'm glad you enjoyed it so much. I could really see on your face how much you were enjoying it.'

"Thanks Colette…" She hadn't eaten anything again. It wasn't just that she wasn't hungry anymore. She didn't need to eat anymore. To Dean this was truly a strange thing. How could a person recover from the fatigue of the activities of the day other than eating and sleeping. It seemed that angels didn't need to eat or sleep. "I swear, if you'll ever be able to taste food again, I'll let you taste this meat. I'll even hunt down a dragon myself, defeat it and cook you the meat. I promise." This made the girl giggle. She handed him a note again. 'You're so sweet. Thank you.'

"Oh, can I come with you if you're going to hunt another dragon?" Lloyd asked excited.

"Hey, Dean is my hunting buddy!" Sheena suddenly said. Suddenly Colette hugged the arm of Dean and stared at the others. Her actions said enough.

"I think I belong to Colette now." Dean said with a grin on his face. "I guess you don't have a saying in who comes with me hunting that dragon."

"Yeah, I guess so. You win Colette." Sheena said then. They were all laughing then. The rest of the evening was fun as well. Dean truly enjoyed that evening and it seemed like all his worries just faded away and didn't exist that evening. Dean had the night watch, but there were no monsters attacks at all that night. Everything was so peaceful and quiet around that area. It seemed like there existed no monsters, that the Desians were just a fairy tale and that they were just on a journey of exploration, instead of one that was for saving the world. Just that evening and that night it felt like that. Dean did realise that the feeling was just a dream. After his shift was up Dean woke up Sheena. She almost thought that they needed to go hunting, but since that the area was so clean and without monsters, Dean and Sheena had decided the night before to skip hunting again. They would continue hunting when going back to Hima, after obtaining the Unicorn's Horn. Dean went to bed and had a dreamless sleep.

The next morning Dean joined Kratos and Lloyd again with the morning practice. Breakfast consisted of leftovers from dinner of the previous evening. Lloyd and Genis had apparently cooked a bit too much. The meat was no more however, but there were more than enough vegetables left. So it was a healthy breakfast. Soon after breakfast they left for the lake. Dean had forgotten the beauty of the area. The air of the forest was really nice and the whole forest gave off a feeling of peacefulness and harmony. They quickly reached the lake.

"You weren't lying about the unicorn. I never thought there existed unicorns. There are, at least on this side." Sheena said when she saw the unicorn trapped underwater.

"You mean that there are no unicorns in Tethe'alla?" Genis asked the young woman. Sheena shook her head.

"They only exist in books and fairy tales. We have dragons on our side as well, but a mystical creature like the unicorn doesn't exist anymore. It is no wonder that this whole area feels so peaceful. It must be because off the unicorn."

"I wonder how it got trapped." Dean thought out loud.

"We should really focus on how to free the unicorn instead on wondering how it got trapped." Kratos said.

"Yeah, you're right." Lloyd said. Lloyd and Kratos agreed on something. This was something that didn't happen often. Lloyd turned to Genis, Dean and Kratos. "Can't you three make something happen with your magic?" The young swordsman asked. Both Genis and Dean got closer to the lake and studied it closely. It was really hard to imagine how far the unicorn was underwater, since that light moved differently in water.

"What do you think?" Genis asked Dean. Dean knew enough. Even if they didn't know the depth of the lake, the unicorn was just too far away. Their magic would get weakened too much in order to get to the unicorn. Even if they worked together, it wouldn't work. Besides, Genis was the only one who could use water element magic. Dean and Kratos couldn't use that kind of magic.

"Even if we work together, it won't be enough." Dean said loud enough for everyone to hear.

"You think so too." Kratos said. He had been standing next to Dean for a while now, but Dean hadn't heard him getting closer to him.

"Dammit! Isn't there anything we can do?!" Lloyd cursed.

"…There is a way." Sheena then said.

"What?" Raine then asked the former assassin. The whole group was now listening closely to Sheena. This made her nervous.

"We could summon Undine, who exists somewhere in this world, to control the water's mana." Sheena said with a soft voice.

"You're talking about the Summon Spirit Undine?" Dean asked her. He hadn't thought about that. There was just one problem.

"We don't have anyone who can summon the Summon Spirits." Genis pointed out the problem.

"I… I haven't formed a pact yet, but if I can form the pact, then… I can summon." Sheena said with an uncertain voice. She herself wasn't so fond of this plan, even though she came up with it herself.

"Now that you mention it, you did say you could use summoning techniques. Are you a summoner?" Genis asked.

"I'm a guardian user! But I can summon too." Sheena explained.

"I'd heard that art of summoning was lost a very long time ago…" Raine then said, forgetting about the origin of the whereabouts of Sheena.

"Then it means that Tethe'alla has found a way how to summon, isn't that right Sheena?" Dean concluded.

"Yes, you're right. I can show you the proof now. Come on out Corrine!" Sheena made some kind of gusture and there appeared a strange small creature out of nowhere.

"I like Sheena, so if you hurt her, I won't forgive you!" The small creature said with a squeak like voice. Everyone was surprised by this turn of events. The small creature disappeared again.

"What was that about?" Lloyd asked Sheena.

"You have to excuse me for his behaviour. Corrine is quite shy and protective over me. Corrine and I are very close and he has helped me several times here in Sylvarant. So, there you have it. The proof I can summon."

"We never doubted that you could summon Sheena." Dean said. "So I guess we have to travel all the way to Thoda Geyser again… All the way to the Seal of Water in order to save the unicorn." Dean sighed. It was going to take a long time before they would reach Thoda Geyser.

"Yes, this going to be quite the detour." Kratos agreed.

"Still, we promised to save Pietro and we need the Unicorn's Horn to save him." Lloyd said. Everyone agreed with him.

"I hope we will be in time." Sheena muttered. Colette then gave Sheena a note. That seemed to cheer the summoner up.

"Shall we get going then?" Kratos asked. "It will be quicker if we don't make any stops and head directly towards Hakonesia Peak and then to Thoda Geyser."

"Yeah, you're right. I need to hurry if we want to save Pietro in time." Raine agreed.

It was so that the party left Lake Umacy again and set out south towards Thoda Geyser. Soon after they left Lake Umacy they already had some kind of incident. It seemed that The Professor had gotten obsessed by Corrine and she kept on asking Sheena if she could summon the creature. She had the same gleam in her eyes that she usually had when the group encountered any ruins, ancient objects or remnants of magitechnology. Sheena didn't really trust the woman when she was in this state and this time Dean agreed with her. The perseverance of Raine was greater than expected and she finally managed to convince Sheena to summon the creature.

"Come forth Corrine!" Sheena said as she made the small creature appear from thin air. It looked similar to a little fox, but at the same time it was so much different. It had a ball around its neck, fox-like ears and some extra orange-brown hair. The thing that stood out were the tails. There were three big curly tales which started limegreen at the beginning, but went to light blue to a darker blue back to a light blue again. The tails were colourful, unique and almost as big as the rest of the creature. Overall the creature looked cute and Dean could sense that Colette, who had a great love for dogs and other animals, was looking with great delight at the creature.

"What is it Sheena?" Corrine squeaked. Even its voice was really cute.

"I just want you to meet the rest of the group. We've been talking at evening about meeting them, but I think this is really a good time." Sheena explained to the creature.

"Okay, if that makes you happy." Corrine squeaked back. Corrine jumped on the shoulders of Sheena as she walked by the rest of the group. She stopped by Colette first.

"This is Colette. She can't talk right now, but she really is a nice person." Sheena introduced Colette. Colette bowed to the creature as a matter of greeting. She then handed Sheena a note. "She wants to pet you…"

"This is the girl you were sent to assassinate right? We've caused you a lot of problems, so I will make an exception just for you." Colette's smile broadened. The blond girl carefully and full of love petted Corrine. Corrine didn't seem to mind to be petted at all. "Oh wow, you're good at that. I like you." Corrine said after Colette was done with petting the creature.

"Next are Lloyd and Genis." Sheena walked over to the elf boy and the swordsman in red.

"Nice to meet you Corrine." They said in choir.

"Oh, the stupid one and the child genius, right? Nice to meet you too." Corrine just said. It seemed the creature was really straightforward and said what it was thinking.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Lloyd said, a bit insulted. "Anyway, welcome to the group!" Lloyd was smiling again.

"You were right. The red one is a nice person." People were now staring at Sheena. Dean had wondered what Sheena had been doing in the evening on the days they were resting in a town or a House of Salvation. Apparently she had been talking to Corrine. People were now wondering what Sheena had been telling the creature. The looks made Sheena nervous.

"Um… This is Dean." Sheena wanted to hurry on and continue with the greetings.

"Hello there Corrine. I'm Dean. It's nice to meet you." Dean said politely.

"Ah, the person who is obsessed with training, cooking and hunting, right?" This startled Dean a little bit and the remark left him flabbergasted. Was he really obsessed with only those three things? He did enjoy each and one of them, but was he really obsessed. Dean wondered for a while. After a while the remark put a smile on his face. This behaviour of the creature was something Dean wasn't used to. It was really straightforward. Corrine didn't seem shy, just a bit wary of people. The creature probably had some bad memories involving people. Dean could tell that Corrine trusted Sheena completely.

"You're one interesting little creature, you know that?" Dean said to Corrine with a smile on his face.

"I'm not a little creature. I'm a Summon Spirit and my name is Corrine." Corrine said back, a bit offended.

"Excuse me for offending you Corrine." Dean said back.

"This is Kratos." Sheena said as she moved on to the mercenary.

"Ah, the badass mercenary. Sheena really admires your strength." Kratos stared a bit at Sheena, making her even more nervous, before he put his attention to Corrine.

"Nice to meet you Corrine." Kratos said and then walked away. That was enough conversation for the mercenary on that object it seemed.

"He truly is a man of few words." Corrine said to no one in particular.

"And this is Professor Sage." Raine was looking with the same look on her eyes at the creature again. Corrine tried to get even closer to Sheena, obliviously not comfortable with the woman staring at her like that.

"I don't like the look in your face." Corrine said immediately.

"What a fascinating creature!" Raine almost shouted. Dean saw that she was struggling with not diving at the creature.

"You'll have to excuse Corrine for her behaviour. Corrine is the first artificial Summon Spirit that was created. Because of that, she suffered painful experiences during the experimental stage. She doesn't trust humans because of it."

"But I'm alright now. I have Sheena now."

"It can even talk! I must study it even more!" Raine said, clearly not listening. She had lost her self-control and her obsession was now reaching its peak.

"Uh-oh, I was afraid this might happen." Sheena said, backing away from Raine. "Run Corrine!" Corrine didn't need any more encouragement and jumped off the shoulder of Sheena. She then quickly ran away and eventually faded away. Everybody sighed, including the professor.

"Professor! You scared Corrine away!" Lloyd said to the woman.

"Yeah Raine, you blew our chances." Genis added. Colette looked down as well.

"I just wanted to study the creature for a bit…" The Professor said with a soft voice.

"I don't think Corrine will want to come out for a while now." Sheena said with a sigh. "And it was going so well…"

"I'm sorry Sheena." Raine then said to Sheena. "I shouldn't have acted like that. I just couldn't control myself anymore. Tell Corrine I'm sorry as well." This was the first time Dean had heard The Professor apologise for her behaviour. Normally she would be ranting on about how wonderful Corrine was and how much she would want to know more about the artificial Summon Spirit. Somehow it made Dean look up a bit more to The Professor. The rest of the day they travelled onward. Nothing much happened the rest of the day. Colette was a bit sad she couldn't see Corrine anymore. They kept a steady, but fast pace that everyone could keep up with. Even though they had Exspheres now and the travelling wasn't that exhausting anymore, they still were careful not to push themselves to their limits. They would be battling monsters several times a day as well. Sheena and Dean picked up the hunting in the morning again and fortunately the hunt was good most of the times. Passing through Hakonesia Peak brought no problems, although the guards were a bit surprised to see the group again. Dean wondered why the guards had remembered the group. The guards would see several people passing by the check-point at the peak. Dean couldn't imagine the guards remembering every person or group that went through the peak. He didn't really have the time to ask the guards. Maybe he would remember asking them on the way back. Dean did notice something on the way to the Thoda Geyser. The closer they got to their destination, the more nervous Sheena seemed to get. He could clearly notice this at hunting in the morning. He couldn't ask her what made her nervous during the hunting. They worked in absolute silence, but were still able to work together perfectly. When the mountains came in sight, which they would circle around, Sheena was acting all nervous again. She and Dean were walking in the back.

"So Sheena, what's on your mind?" Dean asked the summoner. Sheena didn't respond and seemed to be lost in thought. When he touched her shoulder to get her attention she let out a little scream. Dean just looked dumbfounded at her. The others looked behind as well, but as soon as they saw nothing was wrong, they looked in front of them again. The group had been walking for quite some time now and everyone seemed to be lost in thought or just walking. This is how most of the time it went while travelling. The front and rear guard looked around and made sure that monsters wouldn't ambush them. The rest of the group would be talking to each other, be lost in thought or was just walking. If you're walking the whole day you just get into some kind of trance after a while and all you do is walk. You stick to the path or just follow the rest. The one who is in the front guard is also navigating, so you just follow him. Of course being one of the guards was a hard thing to do, since that you had to focus on the job all the time for a long time. That is why they took shifts in who would be on guard. It was a hard thing to do to be on guard and you actually needed the little bits of chatting, being lost in thought or just mindlessly walking. This rule didn't apply to Kratos somehow. The mercenary was a machine and was able to keep on being the guard for the whole day. Raine and Kratos would normally navigate, so they took turns in being the front guard, but Kratos was usually in front of the group, leading them. The others, except for Colette, took shifts for the back guard. A good system that you got used to in due time. At that time Dean had the shift for the back guard.

"Don't scare me like that!" Sheena said fiercely. She was nervous alright.

"I wasn't planning to, but you didn't respond when I talked to you." Dean explained. "I was just wondering what was on your mind lately." Sheena looked down to the ground.

"It's nothing." She didn't want to tell him immediately it seemed.

"Look Sheena, maybe the others haven't noticed because we're travelling at a higher pace than normal, but you seem to be getting more and more nervous the closer we get to Thoda Geyser." Sheena looked him in the eye and then nodded. "So… What's on your mind?" Dean asked again. Sheena let out a sigh.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm nervous." She answered. There was a silence again. Dean wanted to ask for more, but Sheena began talking again. "I'm nervous about making the pact. When I was little, the village I live in tried to make a pact with a Summon Spirit. The result was a disaster. People died in the pact making and I still feel like it was my fault the pact failed. I'm not keen on making pacts with Summon Spirits because of it." So that was the reason. She seemed to have had a problematic past.

"I'm sorry for asking. I was just wondering if I could help."

"I'm just afraid I'll mess up again."

"Don't be afraid. You have us right now. Even if it goes wrong we'll help you. We won't die. If it comes to the worst, we'll just send our badass mercenary after Undine and he'll kick her ass." The last remark made Sheena laugh. Dean put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. You were a kid back then and you didn't have us. You're not alone in this. You're not the only one who wants to save Pietro. We're all indebted to him. We all want to save him. Don't forget that." Sheena seemed to relax.

"Thanks Dean. I'll remember that." Dean could sense the following days that Sheena was still nervous, but not as much as before. Her nervousness didn't seem to increase as well anymore.

The days of travelling passed by. Dean tried to keep Colette as much company as possible. He was worried for the girl. It was not just that. Just being around Colette made Dean feel so much more relaxed. Whenever he was thinking too much again, about the relation between Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, about the Desians, about Colette and this whole journey of Regeneration and the whole point behind it, if Dean would walk next to Colette somehow he didn't worry that much anymore and he could feel the dark emotions he felt fade away a little. How Dean wanted this whole journey to be over. He just wanted that Colette would return to normal. He still didn't know if that was possible, but he would make sure it would become possible. He just wanted to stay with her, even if she would turn into an angel. He would break into the heavens if it meant being with her. Dean's troubled thoughts and mind would only go away if he had some more answers to his questions. He needed the angel Remiel for that. The last thing Dean thought he would want is to go to Remiel, but the last days the desire to confront the angel was enormous. Dean wish he could just fly to the Tower of Salvation, but he had never heard of any product of magitechnology capable of that. So they would have to travel on by foot, which took a long time. That would just be too convenient.  
>The group arrived at the Thoda Island dock, a sort of House of Salvation which also send people to Thoda Island for a small price, in the evening. Having spotted the dock from a distance, the group was eager to travel a little bit longer that day in order to arrive at their destination. They rented rooms there and stayed the night, getting a good night's rest in a comfortable bed. Dean was so tired he was woken up by Lloyd that morning. It was daylight already and the rest of the group was already eating breakfast. Dean quickly got dressed and headed downstairs. Because he had just awoken Dean wasn't really hungry and had trouble eating something. Normally he would hungry an hour or two after he woke up. He still tried to eat a bit, but he couldn't eat more than just one sandwich. He hoped it wouldn't influence his strength for the rest of the day.<p>

"We'll have to ride those washtubs again, won't we?" Raine asked nervously. She was already getting a bit pale by the thought of riding those again.

"Want to ride with me then?" Dean offered. The woman nodded her head.

"Yes, I think I'll feel at ease together with you."

"Don't worry Professor. I know how to swim, so if things good bad we'll make it out of the water alright."

"I really don't mind to think about having to swim right now…"

"Well, I'm not too eager to ride those things again as well." Sheena said. The young woman was still nervous, but she wasn't showing it.

"I don't mind riding those things!" Lloyd said excited.

"Just don't get too excited when we're in the washtub." Genis said with a sigh. Dean wasn't so excited about riding the washtubs again. Those things were really unstable in the water. As far as Dean had seen, the weather was nice and there was almost no wind. The water would be calm as well.

"Well, on the way back we can always ask Undine for help if something goes wrong." Dean said.

"We still have to make it there." Kratos said.

The group finished breakfast, packed their bags and asked the receptionist.

"Oh, it's you guys again. I heard you guys are the Chosen's group. This trip is on the house then." the receptionist said to the group.

"Thanks." Lloyd answered. The whole group made it safely to the island in the washtubs. Dean was the one who was guiding the washtub through the water. The Professor was just sitting in the washtub and shaking, immobilised by fear. The woman almost started to kiss the ground when they were at the island. The trip had only taken about ten minutes and she was already like this. Dean wondered how she had survived the trip from Izoold to Palmacosta. He had heard the others had travelled by boat. Dean asked the elf woman when they were on ground again and on the way towards the Seal of Water.

"Oh, I don't want to remember Dean. I was seasick most of the time and I was really weak when we arrived at Palmacosta. I don't know how I survived that hellish trip across the water, but I'm glad I did." Raine explained to Dean.

"Still, I'm really impressed Professor. Even though you're struck by fear this much, you're still facing your fear and going along with the rest of the group. You're really brave." Dean said.

"I'm not brave Dean. I just can't let this hold me back from going with you. Fear is just an emotion. Besides, most of us have faced their fears in the journey. I'm not alone in that regard." The woman was now looking Dean in the eyes. She was right. Dean had faced his fears by visiting the Desian Ranch again. At that time, his anger had been greater than his fear. That didn't make him brave as well. He just used his anger to push his fear away. Sheena now was going to make a pact. She was afraid and nervous, but she still went along with it. Colette was probably afraid as well. Afraid of what she would lose at the next seal, at the final seal. While facing the Desians both Genis and Lloyd had had to face their fears as well. Only Kratos was the one who showed no signs of showing fear.

While heading towards the seal chamber, towards Undine, the group had to face some monsters as well. The monsters posed no threat, as the group was now much stronger than the last time they were here. It didn't take long before the group reached their destination.

"Sheena. Please do that pact thing." Lloyd asked Sheena. The boy still wasn't good with words, but he was still cheering Sheena on. Dean put a hand on the shoulder of the young woman.

"Don't worry. You can do it. Remember, you're not alone." Dean encouraged the ninja.

"Pact… hmm…" Kratos seemed to be interested as well. Colette handed Sheena a note with 'You can do it Sheena!' on it.

"Okay. I'll do my best. Although I have to admit… I'm a little scared." Sheena approaches the seal. Slowly mana and energy gathered at the spot above the seal itself and the Summon Spirit Undine appeared. As a Summon Spirit she was made out of water, which was her element. She resembled a human being, but her skin was made out of several layers of blue and purple. Her eyes were red, her hair purple, the colour of her skin was light blue, the same colour of the water around them. She seemed to wear a long dress, but it was just water that was coloured a bit darker to make it seem like that. Even though she was made out of water, she was wearing shoulder armour, waist armour and something like a belt. Her ears looked like fins of a fish and she also had a fin on the top of her head. Water was floating around her. The whole picture made her look like a beautiful deity.

"You who possess the right of the pact. I am one who is bound to Mithos." The voice of the Summon Spirit calm and southing, like the effect of the voices of the waves of the sea when listening to it in quiet. "What is your name?"

"Mithos? The hero of the Kharlan War?" Lloyd asked out loud.

"Not only was Mithos a swordsman, he had the ability to summon as well?" Genis wondered.

"Mithos is a common boy's name. It's not necessarily Mithos the Hero." Raine explained, trying to keep the two boys quiet with her explanation. Sheena had already continued with the pactmaking, but Dean hadn't heard because Genis and Lloyd were talking.

"As things stand now… I cannot." Undine answered after Sheena made clear she wanted to make a pact with the Summon Spirit.

"Wh… Why?" Sheena asked, a bit flabbergasted and shocked because of the response of the Summon Spirit. That was one answer the summoner hadn't been counting on.

"I am already bound by a pact. I cannot form two pacts at the same time." Undine explained to Sheena.

"You mean your pact with that Mithos guy?" Flustered, Sheena turned around to face the rest of the group. "What am I supposed to do now?! They never said anything about this at the research institute!" Sheena was panicking now.

"Um… Can't you just get her to cancel the old pact?" Lloyd blurted out.

"How?! We don't even have any idea where this Mithos person is!" Sheena shouted back at the young swordsman.

"A summon Spirit pact requires a vow. As long as the pact-maker upholds that vow, the pact remains valid." Kratos started to explain. The mercenary knew about summoning pacts as well?

"That is correct." Undine said.

"I know about that. The Summon Spirit approves the pact-maker's vow and agrees to the pact." Sheena said.

"Exactly. Therefore, all you need to do is follow Lloyd's advice and request the annulment of the previous pact and form a new one. It's possible that previous pact-maker has broken his vow. Or he may have… already passed away." Kratos explained further. Dean wondered what else the mercenary knew.

"Is it really that simple?" Genis asked the mercenary.

"I suppose you could call it simple, but if the previous pact-maker is still alive and hasn't broken his vow, then there's nothing we can do about it."

"Okay, I'll give it a shot." Sheena returned her attention to Undine. "Undine! I am Sheena! I ask that thou annulst thy pact with Mithos, and establish a new pact…" Sheena bravely said at the Summon Spirit. "With me…" She added weakly. She still was nervous and insecure about the pact-making after all. Dean thought she was doing pretty well seeing how things turned out.

"Before I can allow the formation of a new pact, I must test your worthiness as a pact-maker. You may face me together with three others. Draw your weapons." Undine said with the calm voice of her. Her eyes were getting alit, making her look like a fierce opponent.

"Wha? We have to fight?!" Lloyd asked surprised.

"Sheena? Who else do you want to fight alongside of you?" Dean asked the summoner. Sheena seemed confused at first, but then closed her eyes and calmed down.

"Lloyd, Genis and Raine! Please help me defeat Undine!" Sheena asked the three with determination in her voice. Sheena and the others took out their weapons and prepared for combat. Dean could feel that he was being pushed backwards. The same thing was happening to Colette and Kratos. Somehow they floated backwards and landed near the warp panel. When Dean moved his arm forward, his hand hit something invisible. It was a barrier. Dean tried to look at the barrier. As he looked closely, he could see that the barrier was huge. It had the form of a half a sphere. It made sure that Dean, Kratos and Colette couldn't join in the fight. While Dean was observing the size of the barrier, the battle inside had already begun. Undine had formed a sword made out of water. She was keeping both Lloyd and Sheena at bay. Dean could see that the Summon Spirit was preparing a spell at the same time that she was fighting Lloyd and Sheena. She unleashed a spell on Genis, but the young elf boy managed to dodge the magic attack. The magician had to start over with preparing for his magic spell. Genis knew how to do powerful magic, but as soon as he had to dodge or guard or he was hit by something, his concentrating broke and he had to start all over again with preparing the spell. Raine kept on healing the party and using her support spells. At first Dean thought that Undine kept on using spells on Genis in order to take him out first, but after the battle progressed Dean noticed that Undine was just making sure the magician couldn't use any large spells on her. She was also keeping Lloyd and Sheena at bay by using the sword made out of water. The battle wasn't going anywhere like this. Undine was truly testing them. Dean had tried to encourage the others and giving hints, but it seemed the barrier blocked sound as well. The others didn't hear him. They had to solve this on their own. That the barrier blocked sound in overall was clear. Dean, Colette and Kratos couldn't hear any sounds of the battles.

"This battle is going nowhere. Undine is testing them." Dean said out loud. He felt so powerless like this, being only able to look.

"They have to figure a way to pass the test themselves." Kratos said.

"How can you be so calm?" Dean asked the mercenary. Normally, he would stay calm like him as well. It was just that this time he knew how to help, but he just couldn't help. It frustrated him.

"I trust them to pass the test. That's why I am so calm. I know they can do it." Dean tried to relax and took a deep breath. The mercenary was right. Colette came closer to Dean and showed him a sign saying 'They will do just fine'.

"Yeah. You're right. The both of you are right." Even though Dean tried to relax, it was still hard to just look. "It's still hard to do though." Dean grinned. He trusted them. Lloyd had gotten so strong lately. Sheena was an excellent warrior as well. The Professor had strong healing and light magic. Genis was a boy genius. They all knew how to work together and their teamwork was perfect. They could do it. The party had realised that they had to take another approach. Genis was now using only basic spells. Those didn't take long to cast. He used earth, wind and lightning spells, as those could strike the Summon Spirit at her spot and didn't need to traverse the battle field. The risk of hitting his friends with the spells was kept at a minimum like this. Lloyd and Sheena were attacking from two different sides, making sure that Undine couldn't keep the two of them at bay. The close range fighters were no match for the Summon Spirit if Undine decided to focus one of them, but Dean realised this was just a distraction. Genis his basic spells were also a distraction. The Professor wasn't healing anymore, she had gone unto the offensive. Undine realised this too late and was hit by a light spell. Genis started to prepare for a big spell at that moment. Sheena and Lloyd then put pressure on the Summon Spirit so she had to focus on them and couldn't prepare a spell in the meantime. Raine was now healing Lloyd and Sheena as fast as she could. At the sign of Genis Lloyd and Sheena backed away. Undine was hit by a strong magic spell, or so it seemed. The Summon Spirit had turned into water and reappeared just behind Genis. Not noticing the treat the young mage got knocked out. Undine then focused her intention on Raine. Sheena and Lloyd had been fighting Undine some distance from the Professor and Genis, so that Undine couldn't reach the two magic users that easily, but that strategy had backfired on them. Dean feared for the worst as Undine started her attack on the elf healer, but to Dean's surprise Raine held her own better than he thought. The Professor used her magic staff like a stick and was now gracefully defending against the attacks of the Summon Spirit. Dean had never seen the silverhaired woman fight at close range, but he had never expected this. She was moving smoothly and accurate, parrying on the left and dodging to the right. Lloyd then struck from the sky and several cards of Sheena stuck on the body of Undine, exploding as soon as both Lloyd and Raine had gained a bit of distance from their foe. Undine was still standing like nothing had happened. A blade of thunder then fell from the sky and hit the Summon Spirit. Genis was on his knees and panting, but with a smile on his face. He hadn't lost conscious after all. He just probably faked it in order to deceive the Summon Spirit, trusting it wouldn't come after him to finish him off. When the spell ended, Undine was nowhere to be seen.

"I am impressed." Undine said. The Summon Spirit was once again hovering above the altar. It seemed Sheena and the others had passed the test. The party smiled, happy to have passed the test. Dean healed the wounds of Genis with the help of his magic. Kratos and Raine healed Lloyd and Sheena. After everyone was healed and Sheena was facing the altar again Undine began speaking again. "Splendid fight. Now, swear your vow. Upon what vow do you form our pact?" Sheena thought for a short time before coming with her answer.

"Right now, at this very moment, there are people who are suffering. I vow to save those people."

"Understood. I pledge my power to you, Sheena!" Slowly the Summon Spirit started to fade away and was somehow turning into energy. That energy gathered around above Sheena and then seemed to fuse with the summoner. A beautiful aquatic ring was also formed in the hands of Sheena. With a smile on her face Sheena joined the others.

"Sheena, you did it!" Genis said.

"Thanks Genis, but I couldn't have done it with your help." Sheena replied. Colette then gave Sheena a note. "Thanks Colette."

"Okay. Now we can finally meet the unicorn. And maybe we can get Colette healed too." Lloyd said excited. The young swordsman had just fought with all his might, but was already full of energy and excited now that the pact had worked. Dean didn't understand what Lloyd meant with that Colette could be healed as well. They were going to use the unicorn's horn to save Pietro… But maybe it could be used to heal Colette as well. Why hadn't Dean thought of that before.

"Yeah!" Genis shouted excited. Sheena, Lloyd, Genis and Colette were already walking towards the warp panel. Dean smiled and wanted to follow their example.

"Kratos, you have an impressive array of knowledge." Dean could hear Raine say to the mercenary.

"I had an acquaintance who knew a bit about Summon Spirits, that's all." Kratos plainly said and walked towards the warp panel.

"I see…" Raine said more to herself than to anyone else.

"Is something the matter Professor?" Dean asked his silverhaired teacher.

"No, it's nothing…" Dean knew the woman was lying. He wanted to talk more to her about Kratos, but it wasn't the right time. Maybe he would during the travel towards Lake Umacy and then Hima. They would have enough time for chatter about almost every subject he knew.

"I must say, I was quite surprised." Dean decided to talk about another subject.

"Surprised? About what?" Raine asked confused.

"In a positive way. The way you fought and held your own against Undine. I had never seen you fight up close before. The way you fought like so beautiful."

"Why thank you Dean. Well, I always knew that if an enemy would come too close to me that I wouldn't be able to rely on my magic, so I learned how to fight with my staff. My physical condition isn't that good, so I can't fight long like that. To be honest, I was almost at my limit when Undine attacked me. I never imagined her to do something like that." Dean had crossed the warp panel while they were talking. They were catching up with the rest slowly.

"Yeah, Undine is really strong. It was clear that you wouldn't be able to defeat her and that she was testing you. It didn't even seem she was tired or that she was hurt after the fight."

"Yes, Summon Spirits are truly amazing, aren't they?" The eyes of the woman were started to get alighted again. Dean had a bad feeling in which way the conversation was going next.

"Dean! Can you help take out the monsters in the front? The rest of us are too tired to do it!" Genis shouted from the front.

"I'll be there in a minute!" Dean shouted back. "Excuse me Professor, it seems I'm wanted at the front." The teacher just smiled as Dean ran towards the front. He had wanted to fight the Summon Spirit as well, so now he could release the energy that was stocked up inside of him. The timing was also perfect. He would have been trapped into another lecture from The Professor if Genis hadn't asked him to help out. The rest was already fighting some monsters when Dean unsheathed his sword and jumped into the battle.

"So why are we sharing rooms again?" Dean asked the person standing in front of him.

"Colette wanted to share a room with Sheena no matter what. Genis, Lloyd and Kratos are already together in one room, because there is a lack of rooms. So that leaves only this room left for me to go." Raine explained to Dean. Dean had finally arranged it so that he and Colette could sleep together in one room. He had finally gathered the courage to show her his scars. Colette was oblivious to his plan and had insisted on spending a night together with Sheena. She wanted to discuss something with the summoner… Now that Dean remember, he did hear the blond girl saying something about getting to know Sheena better. Maybe Colette wanted to pet Corrine again… Now that his plan was in shambles, he was irritated and relieved at the same time. He just didn't know how to feel and what to think at the moment.

"And we could finally be together for one night…" Dean mumbled.

"Oh, were you planning on seducing Colette?" Raine asked Dean in a naughty voice. Dean's head got as red as a tomato.

"Professor!" The thought hadn't even come to his mind. He hadn't even had the courage to kiss the girl on the mouth. Well, he would have done so if she could feel things, which was not the case. Going to that step was something he wasn't thinking off by long. His reaction made the woman laugh. She was sitting on her bed with a book on her lap.

"I already thought so. Just teasing you. So what were you planning?" The woman was now curious. Dean knew that she wouldn't stop questioning him until she had her answer. His teacher could be an annoying person sometimes. Dean sighed.

"I was planning on showing her my scars." Dean said with a soft voice. The smile on the face of his roommate disappeared immediately. "I know I shouldn't burden her with this, but I want her to know. I want her to get used to seeing those ugly things on my body."

"I'm sorry I asked. I was just teasing you." There was a bit of a silence between the two of them.

"It's okay Professor. You already know. Colette knows of their existence, but she hasn't seen them yet. I wanted to let her know I'm ready now to show them to them. If she doesn't want to see them anymore after I show them to her, that's okay. I wish they didn't exist as well." Dean pulled up one of his sleeves. Even on his arms there were some scars. Fighting with monsters had caused these as well. The ones on his chest, back and legs were worse. He was glad the weather wasn't that warm that he actually needed to wear shorts and shirts if he didn't want to sweat like crazy. He would choose to sweat like crazy if he was confronted with that kind of scenario. He never liked the winter before, but if it meant not revealing his scars to the world, he wanted it to stay winter forever.

"Actually, there is something I would like to discuss with you. Or rather, someone…" Raine said after a long silence between them. Dean had been lost in his thoughts again. It took a few seconds before he got the feeling he was back in the real world and not his thoughts.

"You mean Kratos?" Dean asked. The woman nodded.

"Haven't you noticed some odd things about him?" Raine asked Dean. Dean started to think out loud.

"Well… He barely talks, yet he knows so much. His skill with the sword is amazing and even though Lloyd and I have progressed a lot in this journey, he always seems one more step ahead of us. Even when I try to force him to go all out on me, it still seems that he is still holding back when I do manage to push him beyond what he is showing us. I managed to beat him one time during training, but that was more because of luck. The same trick won't work on him again. His behaviour around the Human Ranch near Luin was weird as well. He clearly knew Kvar and Kvar knew him and they weren't on friendly terms. Then there is his vast amount of knowledge. Even if he picked some things up during his travels as a mercenary, some things just don't add up. He also tries to keep a distance from the group, yet he agreed to train me and Lloyd in the art of swordsmanship. He taught me magic as well. I heard from Lloyd that he and Kratos have had some serious conversations as well. He also gets so easily annoyed at Lloyd…"

"Wow, you noticed more than I did." Raine interrupted Dean. Again there was a silence between them. Dean tried to think up more things that were odd about Kratos, but he thought he had named everything that was strange about the man. "Do you trust Kratos?" Raine asked Dean after a while.

"You don't?" Dean asked back. He wanted her answer first. He wanted to know what his teacher taught about the mercenary.

"I don't really know. He rescued us several times and he truly wants to help us, but some things about him are so unusual. Whenever I ask him things he answers the questions that everything makes sense, but still… There is just something that's off about him…" Raine explained her thoughts about Kratos.

"I know what you mean, but when you were fighting Undine today I wanted to help and shout things to you, but the barrier prevented any way of interference, so even sound couldn't reach you or the other way around. Kratos was calm at that moment and when I asked him why, he said it was because he trusts you. Although there are things about Kratos that seems shady, he helped us out a lot of times. I trust him." Dean meant what he had said about the man. Sure, he was sometimes wrapped up in mystery, but the man cared for the group. If he just wanted the Journey of Regeneration to be over, he would have never helped all the people during this journey and he wouldn't helped them so many times. With his actions, Kratos had proved that he was to be trusted. Still, a little bit of doubts was planted into Dean now that Raine doubted the man as well.

"You're right Dean. I'm sorry I asked such a strange thing."

"No, I thought I was the only one seeing things." Dean let out a big yawn. "I'm going to sleep. Good night Professor."

"Good night Dean." The Professor went on with reading her book. "I truly hope I am imagining things." the woman whispered to herself, so soft that Dean just barely heard it. Sleep took over Dean soon after.

The group left at sunrise the following morning. There had been no hunting or training, but Dean didn't mind. He felt that his strength had returned to him. Travelling so much and even going to the Seal of Water and dealing with the monsters had tired him more than he had thought it would have. He would need that strength as well for the upcoming days. They travelled those days from sunlight to sunset in order to reach Lake Umacy as quickly as possible. Dean and Sheena hunted in the morning as well. Because of this the two of them didn't need to do the night's watch as much as the others. The whole group was getting more tired with each day, but they all felt that they should hurry as much as they could. Dean forgot to ask the guards about how they recognised them at Hakonesia Peak. When he thought about it, they were already closing in on the House of Salvation of that area. They arrived at the House of Salvation in the afternoon. Everyone except for Kratos wanted to stop for the day and save their strength. Kratos had determined the speed at which they were travelling and it was exhausting. Dean thought he had gotten used to travelling, but even he felt the exhaustion when he sat down in a chair that afternoon. He had trouble not falling asleep. Kratos was truly a monster. Nobody had complained about the speed they were travelling. Time was a pressing matter. It could be that Pietro would be no more already. They never thought that getting Boltzman's Book and the Unicorn Horn would take this long. They would first have to reach Lake Umacy and from there all the way to Hima. It would take them three weeks. Noticing that the speed of travelling was indeed too much, Kratos said that they wouldn't travel that fast when they headed out for Hima. He reminded them that after saving Pietro, they would go towards the Tower of Salvation, towards the final Seal. They would need all their strength there as well.

The group was welcomed with open arms at the House of Salvation. Somehow word got out that the Chosen of Salvation would be coming. Quite a crowd was already at the House of Salvation. Several persons wanted the blessing of the Chosen. Colette didn't mind giving it. We came up with the excuse that the throat of Colette hurt so much that she couldn't speak. Luckily the people bought that and even gave gifts to Colette in order for her to get well soon. Dean thought the people would have given the gifts anyway, but now they had an excuse. Everybody just relaxed that day. Dean took an afternoon nap and played some card games with Colette. The blond girl was doing a bit better now. Dean couldn't read the sadness in her eyes as much as before. That meant the girl didn't feel so bad that much anymore or she had gotten even better at hiding her feeling. Dean hoped it wasn't the latter. The following day the group left once again at sunset for Lake Umacy. The closer the group came to the lake, the more peaceful and serene the area seemed to get. Once again Dean could feel himself relaxing and that somehow a burden on his heart was being lifted. It almost brought tears to his eyes. He had a smile the whole time that day. The group set up camp early. They were almost near the lake. The following morning they reached the lake.

"Okay, go on Sheena. Ask Undine to take us over there." Lloyd said as soon as the group reached the lake. The unicorn was still in the same position. Dean hoped the creature wasn't dead.

"Wait. That's not going to work." Kratos suddenly said. Sheena had been ready to summon, but stopped now.

"Why not?" Genis asked.

"The unicorn… can only be approached by a pure maiden." Raine explained.

"So that means that Kratos, Lloyd, Genis and I are out." Dean said.

"Hmmm… So only females can go?" Lloyd asked.

"That unicorn is picky." Dean joked around.

"So then, just Raine and…" Genis started, but Raine interrupted her little brother.

"I'll pass. But I don't know what we're going to do. We can't send Colette alone while she's like this…"

"Hey!" Sheena said upset. "Are you saying that I'm not qualified?!"

"Qualified?" Genis and Lloyd both asked at the same time.

"You both don't have to say it at once!" Dean tried to think about it. The unicorn could only be approached by a pure maiden. Raine wasn't let out, only because she was an adult, but also because… Dean's ears got a little red when he figured out why.

"Then we shall send Colette and Sheena." Kratos concluded.

"Why can't the Professor go?" Lloyd asked.

"Because I'm an adult." Raine answered. Lloyd, Genis and Colette didn't seem to get it. They had such innocent minds at their age.

"Okay then, I'm going to summon now!" Sheena said a bit flustered, getting the meaning behind the words of The Professor. She approached the lake and made some kind of gestures that was needed for the summoning. "I call upon the Maiden of the Mist. I summon thee… Come, Undine!" Visible mana gathered before Sheena as she called forth the Summon Spirit. Undine appeared in front of Sheena, floating on the water. "Please, Undine. Free the unicorn and take me and Colette towards the unicorn."

"As you wish. To the lake…" The Summon Spirit replied with the soothing voice of the waves. Colette and Sheena were surrounded by a glowing blue light. Sheena took Colette's hand and they stepped on the water. They stood still on the water for a while, hoping that nothing would happen. They then glided over the water. In the meantime Dean could see how the unicorn was being freed from its prison and broke free. It submerged in a majestic way as Colette and Sheena confronted the mystic creature. It seemed that there was some conversation between the unicorn, Colette and Sheena, but even with his improved hearing Dean could only hear whispers and no words. After a while Colette and Sheena glided back to the others. Dean couldn't see the unicorn anymore. Had it already gone away? Colette was holding the unicorn's horn in her hands, but she was looking sad.

"Are you two alright?" Lloyd asked, noticing that something was wrong.

"Sheena, are you crying?" Genis asked the summoner. The woman was wiping away her tears from her feace.

"The unicorn… gave us his horn." Sheena answered and then cried a little bit more.

"I see. Then the unicorn is dead." Kratos said.

"You knew?!" Sheena asked upset.

"When a unicorn loses its horn, it dies." The Professor explained. Dean couldn't remember that. "By dying, a new unicorn is born. That's why the unicorn is the symbol of death and rebirth."

"A new unicorn will be born?" Lloyd asked uncertain.

"Yes, I'm sure one has been."

"If the unicorn gave its life for this horn, then we should make good use of it, even if a new unicorn will be born." Dean said.

"Yeah, Colette. Now we might be able to get you back to normal!" Genis said excited. Dean looked into the eyes of the girl and knew her answer. She shook her head.

"But… Why?!" Lloyd asked the girl directly. Colette took a note, wrote something on it and showed it to Lloyd.

"I still haven't finished regenerating the world. So please use this for Pietro and Clara." Lloyd spoke out loud the message on the note. "But Colette…" The blond girl stared into the eyes of Lloyd. Somehow he understood how she felt. "All right. If that's why you want." Dean saw in the eyes of Colette. Her determination was now even greater than ever before. She wanted to regenerate the world, no matter the consequences. The look on her face gave him a bad feeling. Sadness also came over him. That determination also meant that she was prepared to leave him behind if it truly would be necessary. Dean walked away from everybody, not wanting them to see his tears.

Dean avoided Colette on the way to Hima. He spend time with her even so, but he dared not to look her in the eyes. He would see her determination again and she would see the sadness in his eyes. That would break her determination. He too wanted to save Sylvarant. His desire to save Colette from her suffering was huge, but his reasoning prevented him from confronting her and showing his feelings. His heart longed for her. He wanted to plead to her that she wouldn't go. He just couldn't do that. The sake of Sylvarant was at stake. Dean was torn between his love for Colette and his love for Sylvarant and the rest of his friends during the journey.

"Hey Dean. You okay? You seem a bit absentminded lately." Sheena asked Dean suddenly. They were already near Hima. Dean had been lost in his thoughts and hadn't heard her coming closer. Dean looked at Colette and then back to the ground. "Is something going on between you and Colette?"

"No… We're not in a fight or something like that. I just feel like the closer we come to the World Regeneration, the more she is slipping away from me. My heart is calling out to her and wants that she should stop with the regeneration, but my mind tells me that if we stop now, Sylvarant will be destroyed. I feel like I'm forced between choosing between the love of my life and the fate of Sylvarant." Dean spoke softly and could feel his heart crushing down on him and it was painful.

"Maybe she feels the same?" Sheena asked. Dean shook her head.

"Colette has decided. She has decided to complete the Journey of Regeneration. If I show her my feelings, I'll make her waver again. I don't want to make her doubt again. It'll only make things harder for her. She's suffering enough as it is now. I'll have to deal with this on my own." Sheena stayed quiet for some time. Not knowing what to say. Dean hated this silence. He just didn't want to be drowned in her own negative feelings and thoughts for a while. "May I ask you something personal?" Dean then asked Sheena. She looked at him strangely.

"Um… Sure."

"Why were you trying to assassinate Colette?" Dean asked the summoners. Sheena wanted to open her mouth, but Dean kept on talking. "I'm sorry, that's not what I'm trying to ask. It's just that since I've come to know you and we all got to know you better, I realised and we all realised that you are really a nice person. I know from hunting with you that you truly are skilled and can kill if needed, but still… You're way too nice of a person Sheena. Why would someone like you try to kill Colette?" Dean asked once again.

"Like I said before. It was to save Tethe'alla." Sheena answered. Dean shook his head.

"That's not what I meant to ask. Yes, you did it to save Tethe'alla, but that is the reason the people of Tethe'alla send you on this journey, but that is not the only reason why you wanted to assassinate the Chosen, isn't it?" Sheena fell silent. She kept looking forward and then glanced at Dean several times, but she kept quiet. After a long time she spoke again.

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you."

"Too personal question huh?" Dean remarked. Sheena wanted to say something again, but Dean interrupted her again. "It's okay. I understand. I was just curious. I wasn't expecting you to answer the question." Dean smiled at her.

"I'm sorry. I consider you my friend, but I can't tell you just yet."

"You don't need to apologise. There are things I don't tell all my friends as well, but I'm glad to hear that you consider me your friend. You're a precious friend of me as well." Sheena blushed a little bit when Dean said that.

"How can you say things like that like a straight face?" Sheena stammered as she got even more red. Dean was a bit confused at first, but then noticed the misunderstanding.

"Um… I didn't mean it like that. I'm love with Colette and I love her with all my heart. I just meant to say that I care about you, but in the same way as I care about Lloyd and Genis." Explaining it didn't make things any better. Sheena walked away in embarrassment. Dean let out a sigh. "That didn't go as planned."

"What didn't?" Lloyd suddenly asked. Dean jumped up in surprise. Since when was everyone an expert in sneaking up on him.

"Don't scare me like that Lloyd. It's nothing of concern."

"Hmmm… Okay." Lloyd said. The boy in red kept walking next to Dean for a while. After a while the boy started to talk. "Say Dean, is everything alright?" Dean let out a sigh.

"Not you too. Sheena already came to me with the same question. I'm concerned about Colette, just like everyone else. I just let it show a bit more than the rest."

"We'll figure something out Dean." Lloyd said with confidence in his voice. How could the boy be so sure of that. Dean had thought of everything. He had read Boltzman's Book already. Even with the unicorn horn The Professor wouldn't be able to heal Colette. Dean knew of no book that talked about the symptoms that Colette had. There was no knowledge in this world about it. Maybe Tethe'alla had the knowledge, but they couldn't just travel to that world in an instant, could they? Dean could feel frustration and hate boiling up in him and he wanted to scream at Lloyd. 'What do you know?' or 'How can you say things like that?' were things that came up in Dean's mind, but Dean knew that Lloyd meant well and wanted to cheer him up. It was not right to let out his frustration on his friend like that, even if he wanted to.

"Thanks Lloyd." was what Dean told to his friend and he forced a smile on his face. In the meantime he clung his fists tightly together, almost tight enough for his nails to make wounds in his hands. He didn't mind the pain. The pain he felt in his heart was way more painful than that. Besides, he had gone through tortures daily. The amount of pain Dean could endure was a bit higher now than compared to the past. "I'm sorry Lloyd, I just want to be alone for a while." Dean now wanted to be alone. He was afraid he would take out his frustrations at his friend. He didn't want to do that. They soon came across some monsters where he did take his frustrations and anger out on. Nobody dared to get close to Dean that day, not even Colette.

"We're finally here." Genis said breathing heavily. The last part they had been climbing up the mountain. The last few days had been uphill. They had just passed the gate that showed the entrance to the small mountain village called Hima. "Just give me a minute…" Genis said as he was laying his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. Lloyd stayed behind with his best friend while the others headed towards the inn. Sophia was standing near the staircase towards the room where Pietro was lying.

"Everyone! The healing technique…" Sophia said as soon as she realised who had just came in.

"We found it." Sheena said, trying to reassure the woman.

"He's upstairs, right?" Raine asked. Sophia nodded. "Then I'm going to try the healing technique on him." The whole group entered the small room where Pietro was lying on a bed. Dean didn't recognise the man. All the fat and almost all of his muscles were gone. The body was pale and it looked like a corpse was lying on the bed, but Dean could see that he was still breathing. Dean feared that if they had arrived a day later, the man would have been dead. Raine approached the man with her staff in her hand. The unicorn's horn was embedded at the top of the staff, shining brightly.

"Resurrection!" Raine fiercely said as she cast the spell in utmost concentration. A light filled the room and slowly colour was coming back to the skin of the man. Slowly Pietro woke up.

"Where am…?" Pietro weakly said.

"He woke up! Thank goodness!" Sophia screamed out in joy. Pietro tried to get up, but couldn't. He was way too weak for that.

"Don't move." Raine said strictly, but with care in her voice to the man. "You're safe here. You're in Hima now. Everything is going to be okay."

"I'm in Hima?" Pietro asked, still dazed.

"Yes Pietro. Sheena… She saved you." Sophia said to the living corpse.

"Sheena…" Pietro weakly said. "Yes… I remember now. After leaving Luin, I was attacked by Desians… Then she… Thank you so much!" Sheena was blushing now.

"Ah, don't mention it… and besides, the reason you regained consciousness is because of Raine here. If you're going to thank someone, thank her."

"Then thank you to. Now I can await the Chosen…" Pietro said then.

"If you're looking for the Chosen, she's right here." Kratos said. Colette made a bow towards Sophia and Pietro.

"What?" Sophia asked surprised. "Y…you're the Chosen?!"

"Chosen One. This is what I have heard back at the Human Ranch. The Desians are trying to revive something called the Angelus Project. They're also developing a weapon called the Mana Cannon." The voice of the man was barely noticeable.

"Mana Cannon? Do you mean Thor's Hammer, from the Ancient War?" Kratos asked surprised. Dean once again wondered how Kratos would know such a thing.

"I don't know the details. They are using things called Exspheres in these sinister experiments. Please, stop them…"

"It's all right Pietro. We defeated the Desians." Sheena reassured the man.

"Thank the Goddess…" Pietro fell asleep as he spoke those words.

"Pietro!" Sophia cried out.

"Relax. He's just tired. The healing technique has worked, but the curse has drained him of all of his strength. You should try to feed him some soup and make sure he gets enough moisture in his body. He will recover slowly, but he will recover." Raine said. Sophia calmed down. She then immediately left the room. Probably to make soup. Dean was glad that they had been able to get here in time. Colette and the others were smiling as well. The group left the room and headed outside, as inside was all cramped up due to the small rooms in the inn.

"I hope we can use the same technique to save Clara as well." Genis said as soon as everyone was outside.

"Yes. I'm sure we will be able to save that poor woman, but it seems she is not here." Kratos said.

"We'll find her one day." Lloyd said.

"Yes, but I suggest we first find out a way how to get to the Tower of Salvation. It's time to complete the Journey of Regeneration." Kratos said. Dean knew a way to get to the Tower of Salvation, but he didn't want to go. He kept silent while the others were thinking.

"Let's climb to the top of the mountain. Maybe we'll think of something there." Raine then said.

"That reminds me…" Genis started.

"The Dragon Tours guy! Of course, I forgot about him!" Lloyd said excited.

"Dragon Tours?" Raine asked confused.

"There is a guy here in Hima that rends dragons. He lets people ride on the back of the dragon so that they can watch the Tower of Salvation up close." Dean explained. It didn't matter now that the others had figured it out as well. They would have thought of using the service of the Dragon Tours eventually anyway.

"That's perfect!" Sheena said excited. The others were excited as well. Colette was smiling. Everyone seemed to be happy, except for Dean. He still had that bad feeling and it had gotten stronger lately. He didn't want the journey to end. Even if Colette was like this. He wanted to take her away and run away from all of this. Run away from saving the world. Just try to start a new life together with Colette until Sylvarant would eventually wither away and die. He wanted to run away…  
>He just knew that he couldn't. Even though he loved the girl with all of his heart, he couldn't throw away Sylvarant. He stayed behind the group as they headed towards the top of the mountain. On the top of the mountain a man was standing.<p>

"Hey, you're that man from the Dragon Tours right?" Lloyd called out to the man.

"Oh, you're interested then?" the man asked back.

"Yes! We want to ride the dragons!" Lloyd said back excited.

"Great. You have the honour of being the very first customers of the Dragon Tours! Let's see now, seven people means four dragons, so… Here's a special price available only today! It'll be 8000 Gald!" the man said excited as well.

"That is a lot of money." Raine said as she let out a sigh. She started to mumble things. She was probably trying to figure out how much money we had left.

"Yeah, but it's for the world regeneration. We can't be stingy with this sis." Genis said, annoyed at the reaction of his sister. Still, Dean had to admit. That was a lot of money. They could probably buy new swords for Lloyd with that kind of money. The whole group could buy new weapons with that money, if they had magic staffs and chakrams as well.

"Wait… What did you say? Are you the Chosen's group?!" the man asked them.

"That's right." Sheena answered. Raine hadn't listened and was still calculating.

"Oh my! No, no, no, this won't do. This won't do at all! I can't possible take money from the Chosen! Please reassure ladies and gentlemen. I will ready four high-class dragons for you by tomorrow morning! Of course, I will not accept any money! However…"

"What is it?" Lloyd asked. Dean poked the Professor in order to get her attention. She looked at him angrily, but Dean whispered that they wouldn't have to pay anything at all. The woman seemed reassured and returned her attention to the man.

"I've heard that the area around the Tower of Salvation is dangerous, so… If you could just… I mean, my cute little dragons are…" Cute little dragons? Was that man seriously saying that? Did he have an obsession with the creatures? He must have, or else he would not have started this business. It was the first time Dean had heard someone say that dragons are cute little creatures.

"Not a problem." Raine said. "When we reach our destination, we'll return the dragons to you. Is that all right with everyone?"

"I have no objections." Kratos said.

"Yeah. We'll figure out how to get back when the time comes." Lloyd said.

"I understand. Well then, I shall await you all here tomorrow morning. Let's say… Two hours after sunrise. Well then, if you excuse me. There are preparation to make, so I'll take leave." The man quickly left. The others returned down towards the village as well. Dean stayed behind on the mountain. He was looking at the Tower of Salvation. There was no turning back now. They would leave tomorrow morning. Tomorrow Colette would turn into an angel… And she would leave Dean behind on Sylvarant… Dean started to cry. He didn't want it, but there was nothing he could do or even wanted to do… He cursed the fate of the Chosen.

"Tower of Salvation huh?! More like the Tower of Doom!" Dean shouted out. He then screamed his lungs out until he felt empty inside. One last night… He just wanted to stay with her for one last night.

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><p><strong>Tower of Doom... That has a better ring to it, don't you think? Will love triumph and will Dean and Colette get through this ordeal together, or will fate strike at our heroes? Find out in the next chapter. Things will be getting a lot more emotional and maybe even a bit more dark as well.<br>**

**Until next time.**


	13. The Tower of Salvation

**As promised here is the new chapter. I had to alter the story a little bit in order not to mess up the story too much.**

**The group wants to go to the Tower of Salvation. Will they go there with hope or with despair and what happen once the group reaches the Tower?**

**Find out in this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. If I did, everyone would have final attacks and not just Lloyd, Genis and Colette in the GameCube version.**

* * *

><p>Dean didn't want to go to the Tower of Salvation, but at the same time he did want to go. He wanted to confront the angel Remiel with the facts that they knew about Tethe'alla and that the Journey of Salvation was just a way to reverse the mana flow between the two worlds. He wanted to question what the reason was behind this pointless system, what the Journey of Salvation was <em>really<em> about and why the hell the girl he was in love with would have to suffer so much. The angel would probably not answer his questions, but that was all right with Dean. He would just have to beat the stupid arrogant angel to pieces and force him to answer the questions. That would be tomorrow. It wasn't tomorrow just yet. Dean had been standing on the mountain top for some time and he hadn't realised how cold it was up there until now. Seeing how pointless it was to remain standing there, he headed back down, trying to find Colette. It didn't take long for Dean to find the blond girl. She was playing with the dog that was in town. Dean could remember how Colette would run towards every dog they met in a town or village and gave a name to it if the dog didn't have a name. She would then play, pet and feed the dog. It had happened this time as well. Like Lloyd, Colette wasn't bright and she was kind of a klutz, but she was innocent and pure. How could the angels and the Goddess Martel send such a girl on a journey that would only bring suffering to her? Was that their idea of some kind of a joke. The girl Dean had fallen in love with was strong. She was prepared to give her life to save the world she was living in. It was because of her determination and strength that Dean wanted to protect the girl and make sure that she didn't need to sacrifice herself. There had to be another way, but he lacked the knowledge. He would need to confront the angels and if needed, the Goddess Martel herself in order to get the knowledge and power to protect his beloved one. But it wasn't just Colette that Dean wanted to protect. He wanted to protect his parents back in Iselia and all of his friends as well. His skill with the blade had become so much better and his magic powers were not to be taken lightly. He would take on Heaven itself tomorrow, but that would still be tomorrow. Dean tried to shut down his thoughts and come back to the present. He walked towards Colette, who was getting friendly licks from the dogs.

"Are you having fun?" Dean asked the girl. Colette nodded and got bumped to the ground by the dog, who was playing with her. "Can I play too?" The girl stood up and grabbed his hand and they ran across the field together. The dog would follow and chase them around. It was like they were playing tag with the dog. Sound of laughter sounded from Colette and Dean noticed after a while that he was laughing as well. They played with the dog until they were too tired. The dog's energy seemed limitless, but it lay down in the sun after Dean and Colette were sitting on the ground, panting. Dean embraced the girl, smelling the sweet scent of her hair. They sat in the sun for a while. After a while The Professor ruined their time together. She asked if they had finished their homework yet. Dean was almost done as well as Colette. When the two of them shook their heads The Professor send them inside and saw to it personally that they finished their assignment. Dean couldn't understand the woman at moments like this. The following day was the day when history would be written. Colette would turn into an angel, whatever that meant. She still insisted that they finished their homework. It was a nice diversion for Dean. By focussing on the school work he forgot for a while that he was on a big journey that decided the fate of Sylvarant. It made him feel like a regular student again and it was almost like they were back in Iselia. Lloyd even got scolded by The Professor when he was trying to sneak to his room to get something. He was forced to work on his homework for the rest of the afternoon. Dean and Colette were finished after a while and were allowed to go after The Professor had checked their work. Lloyd however had just started on his assignment and wasn't allowed to go. Freed from the clutches from Raine, Dean and Colette wondered what they should do next. Genis then asked them to play a game of cards with him and Sheena. They did that for the rest of the afternoon. They ate the dinner the inn had prepared that evening. Sophia had cooked the meal. It was a decent meal, but it missed some things. Hima was a remote village and was depended on merchants who were willing to go this far into the world. Because of that it was hard to get supplies here as well. Sylvarant was truly slowly dying. Food supplies were getting harder and harder to get with each year. Each year the harvest was getting less and less even if they tried to compensate by using more land. This world couldn't take much more anymore. It needed the mana that was flowing to Tethe'alla. After dinner everybody split up. Dean wanted to talk to everyone until he would go to bed. He needed to give maintenance to his sword as well, wanting the sword in the most superb form for the next day. He found Sheena first.

"Hey Sheena. What are you up to?" Dean asked the summoner.

"Not much… Just thinking. It's just… Tomorrow, Sylvarant will be saved." Her voice was soft and it seemed she was having internal struggles again.

"Yeah… So, what are you going to do? Are you going to stop Colette?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. The only thing I can do is believe in Colette. The Chosen from this side seems to be trustworthy."

"We shouldn't rely too much on Colette. Let's question Remiel and find out what he knows. As an angel he should know what the Journey of Regeneration is really for. He has probably kept us in the dark all this time, playing as mere puppets who are trying to save this world."

"You really don't like that Remiel guy at all, do you?"

"I don't trust him. I doubted him from the beginning. He gives off a bad vibe and I can't ignore that."

"Yeah, he sure likes to act all high and mighty."

"You got that right." There was a silence between them for a while. "You said sometime about Tethe'alla's Chosen?"

"Yeah, I can't stand that guy…" Sheena sighed. "If there really is a goddess, why did she make a world like this?"

"I've been wondering that as well. I hope to find the answer to that question tomorrow. Will you help me? Like I said, we can't rely on Colette alone."

"Sure, I'll help you. Finding out what the angels really know will help me with saving Tethe'alla as well. I'm on your side Dean."

"Thanks Sheena."

"No problem."

"I'm going to talk to the others for a bit as well."

"I'm going to sleep early, I'm still tired from all that travelling." Dean searched the village for the rest. He found Kratos standing at the graves. Dean stood by him and paid his respect to the dead and hoped that after tomorrow, no others would have to suffer from the Desians or would have to starve from the lack of food and shelter.

"So we're finally nearing the end of this journey." Kratos said.

"Yeah…" Dean replied, not knowing what to say to the mercenary.

"Aren't you going to stop Colette?" Kratos asked Dean.

"I don't know. It depends on what happens tomorrow. I really want to confront Remiel first. I want to ask him the reason why Tethe'alla and Sylvarant are competing for mana and why it is necessary for Colette to suffer this much in order to reverse the mana flow. I also want to ask if there is a way to change this pointless system."

"I see… So you're not planning on relying on the Chosen?" Dean shook his head.

"Colette wants to sacrifice herself so that Sylvarant can be saved. That won't solve anything. I don't want to lose the girl I love for a temporary solution. There has to be another way."

"And if there is not another way?"

"I'm not going to say that there has to be another way. We lack the knowledge why this all is happening. We're just puppets being controlled by the angels. Even if all that knowledge isn't enough, I'll create a way myself."

"Even if that means sacrificing everyone else?" Kratos asked Dean while looking intensely at him. After some time Dean shook his head.

"I don't plan to. If I'm about to turn into that road of madness I'm counting on you to question my reasons and to stop me doing anything that can't be reversed or make things only worse."

"You trust me to do that?"

"Yeah. I know you will be able to do such a thing. I'm counting on you, teacher of mine."

"I see… I won't let you down then…" Kratos said softly. He didn't really sound convincing and somehow seemed down at the moment.

"I want to talk to the others as well. I'll see you tomorrow." Dean left behind the mercenary who now seemed to be lost in thought. Dean wondered if he had said something that had caused Kratos to act this way. Well, it didn't really matter. He needed Kratos by his side tomorrow to confront the angel. He would need all the help he could get. The next person he found was Genis.

"Hey Genis. What are you doing?" The elf boy was looking at his kendama and not doing anything.

"Oh hey Dean. I was just thinking…"

"What's up with everyone? You all are lost in your own thoughts."

"You're one to say. The last few weeks you've been doing the same thing."

"Then stop copying me. Sulking won't solve anything."

"Then what will?"

"As a matter of fact, I have a favour to ask of you. I'm asking for your help. Please lend it to me."

"It's not like you to be all this formal about things. So what do you need my help on? Need help on your homework?"

"I'm not Lloyd, you know? No… Colette would try to solve everything herself tomorrow. What I want to do is to force Remiel to answer our questions. He must know the true reason behind the Journey of Regeneration. I want to find out as much as I can and ask for a way if there is another way."

"He might not want to do that, you know?"

"That's why I need your help. I'm going to force the answers out of him at that moment. I expect him not wanting to answer the questions. We'll just have to use force in order to get our answers."

"That sounds a bit aggressive…" Genis said with a grin on his face. Dean wasn't laughing.

"The life on Colette is depending on the answers that the angel gives us."

"Yeah… Let's work together to find a way!"

"Thanks Genis."

"You can count on me!" Until now everyone has agreed to help him. Dean was in good spirits. Convincing Lloyd wouldn't be a problem. The Professor was another story. At that moment Dean found the elf woman.

"Dean…" She just said to him when he got closer.

"Are you sulking as well? Don't copy me." Dean said with a grin on his face.

"It seems you're in a better mood than lately."

"Yeah… The time to be lost in thought is over. The time to act is tomorrow."

"So what about the present? What are you going to do now?" Raine asked. She was observing Dean and looking at him closely, trying to figure out what he was thinking.

"Convince you."

"Convince me?"

"Yes, convince you. You know as well as I do that Colette will try to sacrifice herself to save Sylvarant. And you know as well as I do that doing so won't change anything. Like we talked over with Sheena the last time, it will be only temporarily. It's not the thing we want."

"Yes, you're right about that, but what are you planning to do about it? We don't know any other way."

"Exactly, we don't know any other way, but the angels will. Remiel will know another way. He has kept us on the dark this whole time. It's time to confront him with that and force the truth out of him, but I can't do that on my own. Will you help me?" Dean looked his teacher right in the eye. He wanted her to see his determination.

"You're serious about this? You will defy the teaching of the Church of Martel?"

"We've been told lies by that same Church of Martel. It's time for us to find out the truth. As a scholar, aren't you interested in the truth as well?"

"Well, I was interested in how Colette would turn into a true angel, but this sounds way more interesting." Raine was smiling now. "I can't let a student of mine sacrifice herself, now can I? As a teacher I have the responsibility to protect and as a scholar I simply must find out the truth. I'm on your side Dean."

"Thanks Professor. This means a lot to me."

"Go on to Colette. She needs your support as well."

"I will." Dean smiled and went towards the top of the mountain. It was the only spot he hadn't searched yet. On the way to it he came across Lloyd.

"Dean. I'm sorry." the young swordsman said to Dean.

"You're sorry, about what?"

"I couldn't convince Colette not to sacrifice herself."

"Of course you couldn't." Dean said. Lloyd looked surprised at him. "She is set on sacrificing herself for the sake of us and for the sake of Sylvarant, but we can't let that happen. You agree with me on that, don't you?"

"Of course I agree with you!" Lloyd said fiercely. "But what are we supposed to do?" The boy in red looked frustrated and in doubt with himself.

"We'll force the answers out of Remiel. That angel knows the true meaning behind the Journey of Regeneration. He's been using us all this time. If there is another way, a way where Colette doesn't has be to sacrifice herself and where the both worlds can live in harmony with each other, then that angel should know the answer. We can't let Colette solve everything on her own." Lloyd first looked surprised at Dean. Then slowly a smile was formed on his face.

"You're right Dean. I thought you had given up on hope, but I knew we could count on you. I'm in!"

"Thanks Lloyd."

"We're friends right? That's what friends are for!"

"Of course we're friends. I'm going to Colette now."

"Good luck. You can do it." Dean went up the mountain as Lloyd walked towards the inn. As Dean thought, it was still hard to climb the last part until you would reach the top of the mountain. Colette was standing near the edge of the mountain, looking at the Tower of Salvation. The sun had already set, but still a little bit of light was coming through. A lone girl was standing at the top of the mountain, looking at the place where her fate lied. She was born to live to do what was going to happen tomorrow. That was what she thought. Dean had other plans. He walked towards her and stood next to her.

"Don't worry Colette. We'll find a way where you won't have to sacrifice yourself." Dean said while looking towards that blasted tower. In his mind's eye he could see how that tower was about to be destroyed. Colette had turned towards him. Dean could see because of her expression and by looking in her eyes what she was thinking. "Yes, I knew Colette. I knew that you're planning on sacrificing yourself tomorrow." The girl looked down to the Earth. "Don't apologise. I'm not going to let you do that. Tomorrow, we're going to ask some questions to Remiel. He should know some other way. He's an angel from Cruxis. He knows the true meaning behind the Journey of Regeneration. Even though we know that now too, we know way too little. The church of Martel has told us lies. It's time for us to find out the truth." Colette shook her head. She didn't have her pen and paper with her. "Please Colette… I know you want to save Sylvarant, but sacrificing yourself… I can't let that happen. I don't want to lose you." She then looked at him with eyes that were almost pleading, asking for help. "It's not just me Colette. The rest of the group feels the same. We're all in this together. We'll find a way how to return your voice and get you back to normal." The girl smiled at him and embraced him. She held him tightly. "It's okay Colette. You're not on your own in this. Everybody agrees." Together they headed down to the inn, walking while holding hands. Dean tended to his sword in his room, while Colette was watching him. They 'talked' about what they would do after tomorrow. That they would start to look for a way for both worlds to be at peace tomorrow. They would do that together, with the help of their friends. The two of them stayed together until it was time to sleep. The inn didn't have many rooms. They only had two rooms. One for Colette, Raine and Sheena and the other for the rest. They were separated by gender. Dean really wanted to spend a night together with Colette, but it couldn't be helped. Dean had no trouble falling into sleep. Genis and Lloyd seemed to be in better spirits than compared earlier that evening. Kratos was the only one was seemed to be lost in thought. The following day they would go to the Tower of Salvation, but it would not go as the angels wanted it to go. Dean wouldn't allow that.

"_Do you really think it would be that simple?" Remiel asked Dean. Dean was bleeding and he was in pain. The others were lying on the ground, unconscious. Colette was hovering in the air, her eyes were empty and hollow. "You wretched humans should know their place!" Remiel seemed to cast another spell and Dean screamed out in pain. Why was this happening? How could they be defeated? After all this time… After all the things they had gone through. Dean got up again, preparing to fight to the better end. "So you still have some fight left in you? Perfect... We can't have you dying on us. That Exsphere on your hand is still incomplete and it is a gift to our leader. Unfortunately both the Luin and the Palmacosta Human Ranch are no more, but that matters not. We'll take you into the heavens with us and we'll continue with the experiment as well. Did you really think that the nightmare was over? Hahahaahahahahaha! It is just beginning Dean!" Overwhelming pain came over Dean, but he didn't lose conscious. His body did fall to the ground and he was unable to get up again. He then could feel himself getting dragged somewhere. Then he left the ground and went up into the air, towards the great white light of evil._

Dean woke up with cold sweat on his back. He was breathing like crazy. It was dark in the room where he was.

"It was just a nightmare…" Dean softly whispered to himself as soon as he realised where he was. The others were still asleep. He hadn't screamed this time while he was sleeping. He was glad he didn't. The images and the pain from his dream were still haunting him. He didn't know what time it was, but he needed a little bit of fresh air before he could fall asleep again. Still in his pyjamas, he quietly left the room. Without making a noise he left the inn. The air brushed against his face and immediately Dean felt cold. He didn't mind. That he felt cold meant that he was alive and that he wasn't dreaming. He walked around for a bit until he noticed a whining sound. He followed the origin of the sound and found out that Noishe was whining.

"Hey there Noishe. That's right. I forgot to say goodbye to you." The 'dog' wagged his tail in return, happy to see someone. "So you woke up in the middle of the night with no one to comfort you as well? Well, it seems we're in the same boat." The dog whined again. "Look, I'm sorry I forgot to say goodbye Noishe. Lloyd did tell you that we can't take you with us tomorrow. You'll have to go back to Dirk. I know you'll be fine. We'll be fine as well. Don't worry, I'll protect the others in your place and they will look out after me as well. I'm glad that you showed up when you did. You've helped us greatly." The beast licked his face. "Hey, cut that out! You know I don't like that. You can lick the face of Colette as much as you want, but not mine." Dean petted the animal for a little while more and gave it a nice big hug. Noishe was nice and warm and warmed Dean up for a bit as well. "Well, I'm going back to sleep. Tomorrow is a big day. I can't allow myself to oversleep. Take care Noishe." Dean walked back to the inn and back to his room. His bed didn't feel so sweaty and damp anymore. Dean could sleep outside with hard ground beneath him, but he couldn't sleep in a bed that was all covered in sweat and was all damp. That was another reason why he took a stroll outside. Dean pulled the covers over him again and it took a while before he was all warmed up again, but he fell back to sleep as soon as he was. This time he didn't have any dreams at all.

Dean could feel someone pushing again him and calling his name. Still tired, Dean didn't want to open up his eyes.

"Come on Dean, everyone else is already awake." the voice of a young boy said to him. "If you don't wake up soon, I'm going to call Raine to wake you up." Hearing that Dean quickly pushed the covers him and he was suddenly awake.

"Come one Genis, don't scare me like that." Dean said to the grinning elf boy.

"I had no choice. You wouldn't wake up. Come on and get dressed. Breakfast is almost done."

"I'll be on my way, but could I get a little privacy." Genis looked at him confused, but still left the room. Dean was glad that the rest was awake already. He still didn't like showing his scars to everyone. He quickly got dressed, checked three times if he really had everything. When he was done he had to smile. The axe of Magnius that he stole was still tucked against his pack. He hadn't used the axe ever since that he got the silver sword he obtained in Asgard. Dean headed downstairs to meet the others. They were already sitting at a table where at that moment breakfast was getting served. Dean wasn't really hungry, but he still ate his breakfast. Colette was even taking some bits of the food that was on her plate. She smiled when he looked at her. He smiled back at her. When he was at the summit yesterday after they had arranged the dragons for this morning, he had been in so much despair. Still, he had been able to turn that despair into determination. He wasn't going to let his emotions get the better out of him. He was going to fight. After breakfast everyone grabbed their stuff and they headed to the mountain top. It was nearly sunrise and there hadn't been any others at breakfast. They had requested for breakfast to be served to them early in the morning. They had paid a little extra Gald, but that hadn't been a problem. The guy from the Dragon Tours was already at the summit and so were the dragons. The winged dragons were big enough for two people to ride on. They looked majestic and quite beautiful as well. It seemed that the guy from the Dragon Tours had tamed the dragons, but he was also showering them with his love and the dragons looked like they were being taken care of quite well.

"I've been waiting for you. Please board the dragons in pairs." the man as soon as he noticed them.

"It seems like one of us will have to ride alone." Dean said, doing the math. Four dragons and seven people, that meant one of them had to ride one alone.

"I will ride on the same dragon on the Chosen. Protecting her… is my job." Kratos said. Dean nodded towards the mercenary. Dean trusted Kratos and he was sure the swordsman would be able to get her safely towards the Tower of Salvation.

"So, who will ride with each other?" Dean asked. "As for the one that rides the dragon alone. I don't mind riding the dragon alone." The others nodded towards him. It seemed Sheena and Raine would ride one dragon together and Lloyd and Genis, as the best buddies they were, would ride the other one together. Dean carefully climbed on the back of the dragon. It had a saddle on its back, so it wasn't hard to sit comfortable on the back of the dragon. One by one the dragons took off. The dragon with Kratos and Colette took the lead. The rest followed them. Dean was in the back and keeping a close eye on everyone. Everything was going fine, until suddenly all the dragons beside the one with Kratos and Colette turned around. They had been given a quick instruction by the guy from the tours how to act if the dragons would suddenly turn away. The dragons would according to the guy fly towards the tower, land there and let the others off before taking off again. Dean tried to control the dragon, but it would not listen that easily. It was making strange roars and flying in circles. Dean noticed that Lloyd, Genis, Sheena and Raine were having the same problems. Then suddenly without any notice the dragons stopped flying in circles in headed towards the Tower of Salvation. The dragon carrying Kratos and Colette was nowhere in sight. Dean had a bad feeling about this, although he didn't know why. The dragon also landed a bit away from the Tower of Salvation, but Dean could see that Lloyd and the others did manage to land close to the tower. Dean jumped off the dragon as soon as it landed. The dragon let out of roar and immediately flew back towards Hima. Feeling uneasy about the whole situation Dean hurried towards the tower. He had to run for quite some time until he reached the others. When he finally came out of the forest that surrounded the tower he saw that there was trouble up ahead. Lloyd, Genis, Raine and Genis were up ahead, but they seemed to be fighting someone. Dean thought he saw wings when he got closer. Gathering mana Dean ran towards his friends, his sword out of his sheath and ready for battle. He leapt into the air, jumping over the others and bringing his sword down on his enemy. That enemy did indeed seem to be an angel. The attack of Dean had caught the angel of guard and the strike had been enough for the angel to fall to the ground, defeated.

"Are you guys alright?" Dean asked. "What happened?"

"We were about to ascend the stairs to the Tower when suddenly an angel appeared before us. It told us we could not pass. When we insisted we wanted to pass it drew its weapon and attacked us." Lloyd explained.

"I have a bad feeling about this. Let's go inside the tower!" Dean said and he ran up the stairs. The others followed behind him. As soon as they were in the tower another group of angels blocked the path.

"You cannot pass!" One of the angels said with a sword in both hands.

"Let you through! Spark Wave!" Dean shouted as he unleashed a lightning spell on the angels. Not expecting an immediate attack, the angels were electrified by the magic attack. Dean attacked one of the angels, not giving it a chance to recover. Sheena and Lloyd attacked the other angels.

"What the hell is going on?" Lloyd asked when they finally had defeated the last angel.

"I don't know, but it can't be good." Dean said. He hoped Colette was alright. Kratos should be with the girl. She should be okay, but still Dean was worried about her. Dean then took a look around. Up ahead was a warp panel and they were walking on a floating platform. There was nothing but the walls from the tower all around him, or so Dean expected. In the form of a helix there were things floating around.

"What are those?" Genis asked looking around as well.

"They're… bodies?!" Lloyd said after looking closely. Dean had seen it as well.

"Then those must be… coffins." Raine said. Dead bodies in coffins. As far as the eye could see those coffins were floating around, forming a helix.

"Why are all these dead bodies here?!" Lloyd asked shocked, not expecting to see this inside the Tower of Salvation.

"They may be… all the Chosen that failed the world regeneration up until now." Raine answered. Dean was really worried about Colette.

"I don't trust where this is going. Let's go find Colette!" Dean said and he ran towards the warp panel. He could hear the others following him. The only thing he could think about was Colette. When he came to the other side of the warp panel he saw a sight that filled him with horror.

"Muahahaha! I have finally done it! With this, I will become one of the Four Seraphim!" Remiel laughed out loud. "The vessel for Martel is finally done. Our Lord will be most pleased." Remiel was flying towards Colette. Dean could see that the eyes of his beloved one were hollow and empty. The once so beautiful blue eyes of the blond girl were now red and dead. Colette was in her angel form and she was floating around. Dean was paralyzed and nailed to the ground. He couldn't believe what he saw to him. A thought came over him that he was dreaming, but he knew that this was no dream. It felt way too alive. His dreams were never this vivid, this full. The details of his surrounding were never shown in his dreams, but he could clearly see around him at that moment.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Lloyd shouted as he saw the scenario.

"Oh, you're still alive? You wretched humans are tougher than you look." Remiel said with a bitter voice. His voice was filled with hate and arrogance. He looked down on them like they were insects, not worthy to his presence. "The vessel for the Goddess Martel is complete. I have no further use of you."

"What the hell did you do to Colette?" Sheena asked enraged to Remiel.

"The Chosen has sacrificed her heart and memory and has become a true angel! She has been reborn as an angel!" the angel Remiel said to the others. Dean couldn't believe his ears. Not only was Colette unreachable, but she had forgotten about him as well. Anger and rage were taking over him, but still his body wouldn't move.

"Colette has forgotten about us?" Genis asked, not knowing whether to believe the words of the angel or not.

"Then… Colette is already dead?" Raine asked.

"No, the Chosen is not dead. Her heart has died and her body will be offered to the Goddess Martel. By removing her body, Colette will revive the Goddes. This is the true nature of the world regeneration! The revival of the Goddess Martel… is the revival of the world itself!" So that's how it was. That is why Colette had to go through all that pain and suffering. To revive a Goddess? Dean didn't even believe in this Goddess, so what the hell was this angel talking about.

"Reviving a Goddess… are you real?" Dean softly said, his voice filled with hate. Remiel ignored him. "What the hell will reviving the Goddess do, huh?!" Dean screamed out now. "This whole journey is just to reverse the mana flow from Tethe'alla to Sylvarant, just as it has happened many times in the past? That won't change the position of the two worlds at all. That won't bring peace. Why hasn't the Goddess been revived by the others Chosens, huh? Answer me, angel!" Dean screamed with all of his hate and his reasoning to Remiel.

"So you've learnt of the other world? From whom did you learn?" Remiel asked in return.

"I'm the one who's asking the questions here!"

"Very well." Remiel said as he took a pause and looked down on Dean in a too familiar way. "The vessels of the other Chosens were not fitted to revive the Goddess Martel. They were failures, but this vessel is perfect. Colette will surely revive the Goddess Martel. And with the revival of the Goddess, a new age will begin!" The angel was mad. The Goddess Martel hadn't been revived by the other Chosens? Then those bodies were indeed vessels who couldn't accept the Goddess Martel? Just who the hell was this Goddess Martel and why was it necessary that she should be revived.

"Don't you care that Colette will be offered to the Goddess? She's your daughter! Surely you don't want this as well?" Lloyd asked the angel.

"My daughter? Don't make me laugh. When I came down to play the role of guardian angel, you inferior being just started calling me her father on your own…" Remiel said.

"What?!" Lloyd said in disbelief. This was just too much. Every suspicions that Dean had had about the angel had been true. The angel finally was showing its true colours. Dean knew that arrogance and hate really well. They had been so familiar… Yes… This was just the way the Desians acted and looked at Dean when he was at the Human Ranch. Remiel was just the same as them, seeing them as inferior beings.

"But enough talking. I've said too much and wasted enough time. Be gone you inferior beings!" Remiel shot out light from out of his hands. The light had the form of an arrow. It was some kind of magical attack the angel was shooting towards Lloyd. Dean slashed his sword towards the attack, hitting it towards the wall of the tower. Dean could finally move his body again and he was filled with hate and rage. He was angry with himself as well. He had come too late and he hadn't been able to save the girl he loved. Dean stormed towards the angel. Remiel fired more arrows of light towards Dean and he was forced to dodge. As he jumped sideways to dodge the arrows, he could see two figures moving towards the angel at the end of his eyes. Lloyd and Sheena had moved out as well. Dean cursed the angel and himself. How the hell could this has happened? How was Colette captured? And where was that mercenary, Kratos? He had promised he would protect Colette. Had he failed, just like them? Dean shook away his thoughts and concentrated on the fight. As soon as they had defeated this corrupted angel, they would force some answers out of the angel that would help them get back Colette. As Dean once again ran towards the angel, he saw that the angel had risen above the level where Lloyd and Sheena could reach him, flying above the two warriors and shooting those arrows of light at them.

"Air Trust!" Genis shouted. The elf magician manipulated the wind spell in such a way that Remiel was blown towards the ground. Dean jumped as high as he could and slashed at the wings of his foe. Remiel managed to dodge the attack, but not entirely. A part of one of his wings was damaged and he could no more reach for the sky, although he could still easily float around and nimbly dodge their attacks. As Dean landed he concentrated on gathering mana. Lloyd and Sheena were busy keeping the angel busy and Dean noticed that the arrogance look on the angel had faded away as he was having trouble fighting this many enemies. The Professor was healing the wounds Lloyd and Sheena suffered during the fight. "Air Trust!" Genis unleashed another one of his wind spells, but this time the spell was focused entirely on doing damage on the angel.

"Power Trust!" Lloyd and Sheena used a combination attack of theirs. With the help of her cards Sheena formed some kind of barrier in front of Lloyd as Lloyd used a Sonic Trust towards Remiel. The barrier didn't slow Lloyd down however, it granted the swordsman in red extra speed and power. Dean was finished with preparing his spell at the right moment. Lloyd and Sheena were out of the range of his attack.

"Thunder Arrow!" Dean shouted as he unleashed his magic spell. Three orbs made out of lightning surrounded Remiel, with lightning sparks running in between them and forming an triangle, trapping the angel inside. Then several bolts of lightning fell from the sky and struck the flying foe. Dean thought he could hear some screaming, but the sound of the attack blocked out all other sound. Right after the spell, Lloyd and Sheena went after the angel again, not giving him a single moment to recover. Dean joined the duo in melee combat. The angel seemed to be surrounded by a strong magical barrier, as their attacks hit the angel, but what seemed to be lethal attacks for any normal enemy, only made cuts to the angel. Remiel was in pain and suffered from their attacks, so as long as they kept up this pace, the angel would fall.

"This isn't over yet." Remiel said with his voice full of hate as he disappeared. The angel somehow teleported out of the range of the three warriors. "You dare to defy the Heavens? You fools! Judgement!" Not knowing what kind of attack to expect and whether the angel was targeting him, Dean acted fast.

"Guardian!" Dean surrounded himself with a barrier made out of mana. Just a moment after that a magical light from above hit Dean with full force, but Dean wasn't the only one who was being targeted. These powerful rays of light that fell from above targeted the whole party and everyone was hit by this magic spell. Only Dean and Raine had protected themselves with a shield of mana. The rest was hit by the spell. Remiel then shot those arrows of light towards Lloyd and Sheena. Dean jumped in front of Lloyd and blocked the arrows, but he could not block the arrows heading towards Sheena, but the summoner had jumped out of reach at the last moment. Dean then could hear the Professor screaming in pain. Remiel had used a spell on their healer, hoping to take out the one who was providing support for the rest of the group. The angel was then hit by several fireballs, which stopped the angel from attacking Raine. Remiel wasn't holding back anymore and prepared another spell, now clearly targeting Genis. Dean quickly unleashed a basic lightning spell on the angel, diverting its attention. Although Dean could feel the hate erupting from inside, his thoughts were now clear and he felt both unusually calm and enraged. As he calmly walked towards the angel, he unleashed one basic lightning spell after another. Remiel now looked towards him and shot his arrows at Dean, but Dean blocked them as he kept unleashing basic lightning spells on the angel. His walk was confident and he was taunting the angel. There was no way Dean could this pace up. He could feel that the mana he used for artes and spells was slowly depleting. It was a bluff. A taunt so that the angel would set his eyes on Dean and not on the elves, whose defence was weak at the moment. Finally the angel flew towards Dean, but then suddenly disappeared again and showed up behind Dean. Dean was hit in the back by an attack, but the pain he now felt physically was nothing compared to the feeling of his crushed heart and the raging storm of hate that was inside of him. Dean quickly turned around and attacked the angel who was laughing for a little bit, but looked surprised the way Dean quickly recovered.

"Flame Strike! Wind Gale! Lightning Blade!" Dean unleashed one of his deadly combinations on the angel. The elemental artes seemed to do much damage, as the angel was staggered a little bit more after each attack. Dean continued with his attacks, but wasn't using artes anymore. His mana was getting low and he had the angel pinned down. The angel teleported away from Dean, but now faced Lloyd and Sheena in front of him. Lloyd reacted immediately and attacked the angel with his artes as well.

"Demon Fang! Sword Rain! Tiger Rage!" A shockwave, a flurry of attacks and a upward and downward slash hit the angel.

"Power Seal! Life Seal! Pyre Seal!" Sheena unleashed her combo of artes on the angel, knocking it to the ground.

"Photon!" Raine shouted as her used a light spell on the angel, the same spell Remiel had used on her.

"Thunder Blade!" A blade made out of lightning fell from above and pierced the angel, who was lying down on the ground helpless. The spell then exploded, finally finishing off the angel. Unable to get up anymore, the angel crawled forward, trying to reach for Colette.

"Impossible… How can an angel, the ultimate being, lose to a group of humans?" Remiel asked himself this question, but nobody paid attention to him.

"Colette, come back to us! I'm going to restore you back to your normal self! I promise!" Lloyd shouted towards the winged blond girl who was floating in the sky, not responding to anything that happened around her. Dean could not speak. He was tired from the fight and too afraid to look at Colette. He knew what he would see there. The girl he loved with all his heart, turned into a being without a soul, emotions and memories. Just an empty vessel was floating around there, not Colette.

"Colette.. Have you really forgotten us?" Lloyd asked the floating Chosen.

"You're wasting your time. Not only did she lose her memory, but she has lost the soul to listen to your words. Now Colette is merely a puppet standing before death's door." The voice of the mercenary said. Dean looked up towards the altar, where Kratos was standing now. Dean hadn't heard him approaching, even with his improved hearing. The mercenary was standing there, unharmed, with his arms over each other and aura that distanced himself from the others. The way he spoke, the way he was standing there, Kratos behaved like a different person now.

"Kratos!" Genis shouted as he noticed the mercenary as well.

"Where have you been?! What are you saying?!" Lloyd asked the mercenary. There was both relief and confusion in his voice.

"The Chosen desired the regeneration of the world and chose this path herself. By the summoning of the Chosen to Derris-Kharlan, the seal will be broken and the regeneration will be complete." Kratos said calmly as he slowly walked towards the floating blond Chosen. Dean didn't understand and at the same moment he did. It was like another dream of his had come true. Kratos was standing there, but he didn't belong to them anymore.

"Kratos, have you really?" Dean spoke softly. The mercenary glanced at him for a moment, but then returned his gaze towards Lloyd and the others. Dean was standing between the angel and the others.

"Kratos? What are you talking about?" Lloyd asked the mercenary, now even more confused.

"It is what you wanted as well. We will take the Chosen as the new body for Martel." Remiel had said those words as well. Dean didn't want to believe it, but he knew it true. Kratos was on the side of the angel, on the side of Remiel.

"Lord Kratos, have pity on me. Please… lend me your aid." Remiel just confirmed what Dean thought.

"No… Kratos… Why?" Dean said as a great sadness took over him. The mercenary who had trained him. The gentle, but mysterious man who had taught him so many things and had stand at their side this whole time, hadn't been on their side from the beginning. Kratos turned his attention to the dying angel.

"Have you forgotten, Remiel? I was once of the inferior race… a human. Does the ultimate being seek help from that which he despises the most?"

"Guh…" Remiel coughed up some blood and then fell silent. The angel had died. The group had finished him off. Dean cursed himself again. He had wanted to defeat the angel, not to kill him. Dean needed the angel. He needed answers. Dean looked at Kratos again. But maybe they didn't need Remiel in order to get the answers they wanted. Maybe Kratos would tell them… A hope came over Dean. While this was happening Lloyd ran towards Kratos and stood between him and Colette.

"Move out of the way." Kratos simply said to Lloyd, ordering him around.

"Kratos… Who are you?" Lloyd asked the mercenary. At that moment the body of Kratos began emanating a blue light.

"I am of Cruxis, the organization that guides this world." Kratos answered as the wings of an angel sprung from his back. "I am one of the Four Seraphim, sent forth to keep close watch over the Chosen." The wings of Remiel had seemed to be made out of feathers and therefore, looked more realistic, but the wings of Kratos looked the same as the wings of Colette. The only difference between the wings of Colette and those of Kratos was the colour. Colette's wings were pink and those of Kratos were light blue.

"Kratos is an angel, too?!" Genis reacted shocked. Dean had been in shock the whole time. He didn't know what to think and believe anymore. Slowly the sadness over the loss of a companion turned into hate. Because the sadness had been strong, this hate was now turning into a rage that was stronger than the hate Dean felt towards Remiel.

"You deceived us!" Sheena said fiercely to Kratos, defying him.

"Deceived?" Kratos asked. "If the Chosen merges with Martel, she will awake, and the world will be saved." Kratos stated. "Is that not what you wanted?" The awakened angel turned our own words against us.

"Once her body is taken by the Goddess of Martel, Colette will truly die." Raine stated. The woman seemed to be calm about all of this, but the eyes of the woman told a different tale.

"No. She will be reborn as Martel." Kratos corrected Raine. Dean had heard enough.

"Kratos… I will not forgive you…" Dean said softly and jumped up into the sky and turned his attack towards Kratos. The former mercenary had somehow spotted this action and quickly drew his sword to block the attack and pushed Dean away. Dean landed on the ground again. The world around him had disappeared. Only he and Kratos existed at this point.

"You earnestly think you can defeat me?" Kratos said to him, mocking him. Dean stormed towards Kratos, screaming out loud. Dean kept on attacking the blue winged angel, but as always his guard was perfect and showed no openings. Dean didn't care. He just kept on attacking Kratos in his rage. Kratos then blocked Dean and brought him out of balance, as his attacks were in a frenzy and were easy to predict, block and his guard was full of openings. Dean knew this, but he didn't care. Kratos now attacked him and it seemed the attack would land, if the attack wasn't blocked at the last moment by two swords. Lloyd had saved Dean at the nick of time.

"Pull yourself together Dean! You can't win fighting like that!" Sheena shouted at him. Dean gritted his teeth. Suddenly The Professor stood before him and gave him a painful slap to the face. Dean put one of his hands to his face.

"Are you awake right now?" Dean looked angry at the woman, but the rage he had felt was now somehow quelled down. "Good." Raine said, noticing the change in Dean. "If we want to defeat Kratos, we need to work together. If we do that, we can win." At the moment Raine said that Dean could see Sheena flying backwards. She hit the ground hard and had lost conscious. Dean doubted they could win. Even if they worked together.

"Professor, please focus on healing. Make sure that everyone gets out of this alive." Dean said to his teacher, as she looked shocked at Sheena, surprised that her companion had been taken out so quickly.

"Genis, try to land a spell on Kratos. It doesn't matter if we're hit by the attack as well. The Professor can heal us." The elf boy looked with big eyes at Dean and his mouth open, unable to speak. "Please Genis. Kratos won't be showing mercy. We'll all die if we don't take risks ourselves." Genis looked down for a moment, but then looked determined at Dean. Dean knew his answer. Dean had been watching the battle between Lloyd and Kratos the whole time while he was trying to convince the elves what they needed to do. Lloyd was already bleeding and it wasn't looking good for him. As the swordsman in red blocked one of the attacks of his former mentor, he was still swung to the ground due to the force of the attack. Dean took a deep breath. He didn't know whether he would survive this fight with Kratos. He would have to risk everything. He formed the most powerful barrier he knew around him and infused the power of the wind in his body, using his magic. He was already tired from the battle with Remiel and he really needed all of his strength, but that wasn't the case. He would risk everything with this. He didn't care if he would lose consciousness in the progress. He then ran towards his former mentor and the hidden enemy from the beginning with speed he had never shown until now. Dean and Kratos clashed swords. Their attacks were both powerful and created small shockwaves of sound with each clash the swords would make. Dean held back on the beginning and made his attacks predictable and easy to block. As Kratos pushed Dean in an unfavourable position and prepared to counterattack, Dean suddenly attacked with full speed.

"Wind Gale! Huricane Trust!" The wind elemental artes were now more powerful due to the infusion of the wind element in Dean. Dean then combined both the elemental of wind and lightning in his sword and attacked again. "Super Lightning Blade!" Kratos had taught him this technique not so long ago, but his former mentor did not know that Dean had already mastered the arte on his own. It was a trust attack, both the sword was charged with both the element of wind and lightning and it was like a combination of Hurricane Trust and Lightning Blade, but then even more powerful. A bolt of lightning hit Kratos and he was blown away by a blast of wind that erupted from the tip of the sword of Dean. Kratos had blocked the attacks of Dean, but he couldn't block the effects of those attacks. Dean now had the upper hand, but time was his true foe and not Kratos. He could only fight like this for one minute and maybe a little bit longer, but only a few seconds. As soon as Kratos would realise this, he would go on the defensive and delay the fight. Dean would get exhausted, run out of mana and would then get defeated in a blink of an eye. Dean wasn't planning on letting that happen. The downside to this was, that Kratos probably knew what Dean was doing. Dean continued with his assault. Moving faster than Kratos, he broke through his guard and attacked him relentless. The problem was that Kratos had the same magical barrier around him as Remiel. Lethal attacks weren't lethal on him now. The former mercenary had a guard where almost nobody could get through and still he had a barrier around him and armour around him that would protect him against heavy attacks that Dean was given him now. Kratos recovered from the assault and now went on the offensive. He unleashed several of his deathly combinations on Dean, which Dean managed to evade barely, even with his enhanced speed. After a combination the blue winged angel could go on like he pleased as he needed no time to recover from his everlasting attacks and long combinations. Time was running out and Dean was brought to the defensive.

"Thunder Blade!" Genis shouted and a blade of lightning struck Kratos. As the blade exploded Kratos brought forth a barrier made of mana and it seemed that the magic spell of Genis would hit Dean more than Kratos.

"Thunder Shield!" Dean formed the shield made of lightning just before the magic spell exploded. The shield not only absorbed the lightning attack, but also gave Dean back a little bit of mana. After the spell Lloyd came in and joined the fight, but he hit the ground only a few seconds later, being hit by a powerful combination of Kratos that you just couldn't block, only barely evade with still getting hurt in the end. The teamwork of Genis and Lloyd gave Dean enough time to resume his assault on Kratos and the blue winged angel was forced on the defence again. Dean attacked again with a combination of artes, but after it only a few seconds remained before his mana would run out. Black spots were already showing up in his eyesight. He had run out of time. Kratos was still standing and wasn't hurt enough. Several cards then hit Kratos and exploded, staggering the man. A warm light filled Dean and his eyesight returned to normal. The Professor had charged him with a little bit of her mana. Genis tried to hit Kratos with another magic attack, but the angel dodged the attack by jumping backwards. Kratos landed in front of Dean. Dean brought his sword up and charged it with all the mana he had left and brought it down. Kratos took on a defensive stance, but his sword was slammed out of his hands by the attack. Dean fell to his knees, unable to stand anymore. Kratos reached for his sword again and it seemed that they had lost in vain even with that last attack. Kratos was again hit with several explosive card attack. Lloyd then hit the warrior without a weapon with all his might and several artes. The former mercenary tried to block with his shield, but that too was shattered by the relentless attacks. Finally Kratos was brought down to his knees.

"Ugh!" The blue winged angel showed that he was defeated.

"Time to finish this!" Lloyd prepared to deal the final attack, the killing blow. Just before that a light flashed and Lloyd was pushed backwards by an unknown force. Dean could all see this, but he could not move. He was just sitting there on his knees, with his sword still in his hands, which were cramped and unable to relax. Black spots were once again in Dean's eyesight, but he could still see and he was still conscious. After the flash there was another winged being floating next to Kratos. The man had long blond hair, a white tight suit covered on his whole body and a crystal just below his neck. The suit had parts of gold at the edges. The wings on the back of this man were much bigger than the wings of Kratos and Colette. The wings were as tall as the man himself and he was floating in the air due to their force. A powerful aura emitted from the man and Dean knew immediately that his angel was even stronger than Kratos, thus a creature that they had no hope of defeating even if they were at full force.

"I guess not even you could bring yourself to fight against such an opponent…" The angel said to Kratos as if he had watched the whole fight.

"Lord Yggdrasill." Kratos said as he turned his attention to the angel. The former mercenary was already on his knees, but it seemed like he was now kneeling to the new angel whose name is Yggdrasill.

"Who's that?" Genis asked from behind.

"Another angel?" Sheena asked surprised, wondering how many more angels would pop up any second now. The angel named Yggdrasill turned his attention to Lloyd, who was still standing there with his swords in his hands.

"Are you Lloyd?" the angel asked, apparently knowing the name of Lloyd.

"Give me your name and I'll give you mine!" Lloyd said back, demanding some kind of respect.

"Haha… people need not introduce themselves to a dog." the angel said, seemingly amused, as he looked down on Lloyd. Though in Dean's eyes when it came to difference in strength, Lloyd was nothing more than an insect compared to that angel. Dean had cast only one glance at the angel and he had realised the difference in power between them.

"What did you say?!" Lloyd asked angrily, ready to fight.

"Fine, I shall tell you my name, wretched human. I am Yggdrasill. Leader of Cruxis… and the Desians!" Hearing that answer, Lloyd wouldn't want to hear no more and stormed towards the angel along with Sheena. The angel slammed his fist to the ground, creating a powerful shockwave that blasted the two warriors into the air. With two movements of his hands Genis and Raine were brought to the ground. The two elves immediately lost conscious. Sheena was passed out again. Lloyd somehow found the strength to get up. Dean gathered his strength to get up and slowly walked towards Yggdrasill who was floating towards Lloyd. Lloyd swung his swords at the angel, but it seemed like the swords just passed right through the angel without causing any damage. The angel smiled and raised his arm, ready to attack Lloyd. Dean pushed Lloyd out of the way and fell to the ground in the progress. The angel lowered his arm and seemed to relax.

"We meet again Dean." the angel said to Dean who was on the ground, too tired to get up.

"Have we met before?" Dean weakly said to the angel. He turned to his back and tried to sit up, so he could face the angel.

"Yes, we have. Although you probably can't remember." Yggdrasill said to Dean. To Dean, it was the first time saying this man, this angel. He had no recollection of him. Still, this man knew him and knew that he wouldn't remember.

"What do you know about me?" Dean asked, curious now. At that moment Lloyd got close to them and tried to attack Yggdrasill, who just floated a bit backwards in order to dodge the attack.

"Get away Dean, I'll deal with him." Lloyd said to Dean, trying to protect his friend.

"Lloyd, stop. It's no use. We're just flies compared to him. Can't you see that?" Dean said to Lloyd. Lloyd stopped attacking.

"You should listen to your friend. He has keen eyes." Yggdrasill. It seemed that somehow the fighting had stopped. Then several cards flew towards Yggdrasill and circled around him. The angel swung with one arms and the cards flew towards every corner of the room. Yggdrasill raised its arm and somewhere inside the room a huge sword appeared. A powerful shockwave was emitted from the sword which send everyone flying. Lloyd was sent in the air and got knocked against a pillar, from which the upper part collapsed. Lloyd got to his knees and Yggdrasill seemed to want to bring forth the killing blow. Dean was lying on the ground, barely conscious. He could do nothing anymore, but he couldn't let another one of his friends die. With willpower alone he got to his feet. His sword was still in his hand. He was out of mana and walking was impossible at the moment. All he could think of was to throw his sword towards Yggdrasill. So Dean threw his sword towards Yggdrasill who caught it from the air and then crushed the sword into many tiny pieces with just one gesture. Yggdrasill then turned his attention back to Lloyd.

"Kratos, I trust you have no objections?" the angel asked Kratos. The former mercenary kept quiet, but did not dare to look at that which what would take place. "Farewell." At that moment shots of concentrated mana were coming towards Yggdrasill. The angel easily dodged the attacks. Dean could see soldiers who looked like Desians, the 'Desians' from Triet Desert if Dean recalled correctly and Botta at the back. The soldiers picked up the whole party, including Dean and Lloyd. They even guided Colette back with them. Some of them were killed by Yggdrasill, but somehow everyone escaped from the clutches of Yggdrasill. Dean's sight was getting worse and worse. In the end he could only remember getting carried somewhere before he lost conscious.

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><p><strong>Kratos has betrayed them, Colette is now a lifeless doll and Dean's sword is broken. All hope seems to be gone. What will have those 'Desians' have in store for them? Please find out in the next chapter.<br>**

**If you have some feedback whether it be positive or negative, please give it to me. I always want to improve my story.  
><strong>

**It will probably take some time until the next chapter will come out. I really wanted to write this chapter, so this one came out really quick in my eyes. So, until next time.  
><strong>


	14. The Renegade Base

**Hello there my fellow fanfiction writers and/or readers. **

**After the Tower of Salvation I wanted improvise for a little bit and let Dean not take the same path of the others. I didn't realise that this improvisation would last an entire chapter... I am glad with the end result. I have used up my inspiration and my motivation the last few days, so I'm going to take it slow for a little while.**

**Like always, enjoy the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: You still don't get that I don't own Tales of Symphonia? I'm not that good a writer.**

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><p>"<em>Don't you think it is a fitting end for you?" Kvar asked Dean while he was laughing and had that mad look in his eyes again.<em>

"_A fitting end?" Dean asked the dead Desian Leader._

"_Poor boy, doesn't realise he is dead." Magnius said. He hadn't been there before. The other dead Desian Leader just popped up. "That's what happens to those who defy the leader of the Desians, Lord Yggdrasill."_

"_I'm dead?" Dean looked at his own body and saw that his chest body was slashed open and that some of his organs were hanging outside of his body. He didn't feel pain nor any emotions. He just felt empty._

"_Yes… You're dead, just like us. Although it is no surprise your journey ended in this way. Your companions are dead, the Chosen will be revived as Martel and the world will move on towards an new era." Dean remembered it all. His beloved one had turned into an angel. They had confronted Remiel who revealed to them that Colette would be sacrificed to take the place of the Goddess Martel. The angel then attacked them. They had defeated the angel, but then Kratos came along and fought them as well, as they weren't planning on letting Colette go. Finally after defeating Kratos just barely, the leader of both Cruxis and the Desians, Lord Yggdrasill had showed up. He had just been too powerful and everyone was dead now. Yet Dean didn't feel hate, sadness or anything of the sort. He just felt empty. The only thing he felt was that he was sorry and disappointed in himself. He had wanted to avoid this scenario at all costs, but even though he had tried so hard, it had all been in vain. _

"_So what happens now?" Dean asked the other dead warriors._

"_The afterlife of course." A unknown voice said in the head of Dean. "But not the peaceful one you had in mind. No, not that my boy. You've killed many people in your life and now you'll have to pay for that. Only Hell awaits you!" Dean was warped away towards a hot fiery place. He was quickly coming closer to that place and the heat only increased with every moment. What seemed to be a red dot in a white open place continued to grow into a place of fire and screaming. Dean was thrown into a pit of magma and he could feel himself burning alive, but he didn't actually burn away. Only the pain was there and it kept on increasing, but he didn't lose conscious or anything. The pain just kept on going on and on and on and on and on. "Suffer like you've never suffered before…" the voice said once again in his head._

Dean woke up while his body was covered in cold sweat. He was lying in the most comfortable bed he had been until now, but it wasn't comfortable due to the wet sheets full of sweat. Dean pushed the blankets away from him and wanted to get up, but when he moved his whole body screamed out in pain. Carefully moving himself to the end of the bed and sitting there, Dean took a look around himself. The room he was in was the most luxurious he had ever been. The bed was made for two people, but four people could sleep in it with easy. It was that big. The walls were painted white and there were several paintings on the walls. A expensive small tables with chairs which were covered with clothing to increase comfort. On the small table there was a vase from a material Dean had never seen before. The vase was white and there was a painting in it. Beautiful flowers were placed in the vase. There was a mirror in the room as well. Dean got up and looked into the mirror. He almost didn't recognise the person who was in the mirror. His eyes had a wild look, his hair had gotten wild and was in a mess. For some reason there was no sign of a beard, but his face looked like one from a prisoner in a Human Ranch. Below his neck were numerous scars and as Dean looked down at his own body he saw it was wrapped in bandage. He was also naked, but he hadn't realised that he had been until now. Now that he had seen himself and the terrible state he was in, he really wanted to take a shower. As he checked the room he saw there were two doors. When he got closer to one door it showed there wasn't a handle on it and it wouldn't open even when Dean tried to force it open. The door was made of metal. There was a small panel on the wall next to the door to the left of it and it showed several numbers and signs on it. Dean would need some kind of code in order to open this door. When he walked towards the other door, the door opened by itself. The other room had white tiles on the walls. There was a white tub which felt cold and smooth when Dean touched it. It appeared to be a bathtub, but only really rich people and expensive hotels had these in Sylvarant, but the bathtubs there were made out of wood and people had to fill it with warm water by themselves. Dean had used one of those bathtubs back in Asgard when they had rescued the people from the Human Ranch. This bathtub wasn't made out of wood nor out of stone. It was made of a material Dean had never seen before. He wondered in what kind of room he had ended up in. Sure it was nothing he had ever seen before and really comfortable, but he still was locked up inside. Maybe it was a prison for the noble people? Dean didn't know and didn't care. On the other side of the room there was something that was made of the same material as the bathtub. There was a small closet hanging above it and on the outside it also functioned as a mirror. There was something made of metal hanging above the white unknown floating object. It had two buttons at the backside, a blue one and a red one. When Dean accidently turned one of the 'buttons' water started to flow out of the metal object. The water fell into the white object, which was partially open from above. Dean had turned the red one and the water that flowed out was warm. Dean figured that people could use this thing to wash their hands. What a strange thing. Did the people of Tethe'alla have things like this? When Dean inspected the bathtub again he noticed that there was also a blue and red turning 'button' with a metal thing, where water seemed to come out of, was at the bathtub as well. Next to the bathtub there was a door made out of glass. When Dean opened the door he saw another two of those 'buttons' or switches. A red switch and an blue switch. When Dean turned the red switch hot water fell from another metal thing that was located above him. The water was too hot and Dean turned back the switch. The blue switch produced cold water. Dean wondered what would happen if he turned both the switches. The water was now a bit warm. When Dean turned the red switch a bit further the water went a bit warmer. Experimenting with this until the water was a comfortable temperature, Dean stepped under the flowing water in order to wash his whole body. He had only used his arms to feel the temperature of the water until now. Dean washed himself and removed the bandages from his body, as them seemed to get off partially when they got wet. There were several wounds from slashes of a sharp object like a sword or an arrow on his body. It was painful when the warm water touched his skin on those places, but the dirt and dried up blood were washed away. This way of washing oneself was really comfortable. When Dean felt clean again he turned off the water. When he opened the door there were towels lying on a white chair. He hadn't seen the chair before, because it was white and the walls were white as well. Dean dried his body with the towels, although it was kind of painful with all the wounds that were still healing. His muscles also felt sore. At that moment Dean remembered that he could use healing magic. He took a deep breath and relaxed while gathering the mana, preparing for the spell. A magic circle appeared beneath him, like all those times where he wasn't moving while preparing a spell. He used a more advanced healing spell on himself. Some of the scratches from the wounds disappeared, but the bigger ones only got smaller. His muscles didn't hurt that much anymore and he could move more easily right now. He did notice that the amount of mana he had left was little and the spell had taken up more mana from him than he had guessed beforehand. It didn't matter. A good night's sleep and his mana should be restored to normal levels. When he got back into the room with the bed there were clothes lying on one of the chairs. Those clothes hadn't been there before, Dean was sure of that. Happy that he wouldn't need to walk around naked the whole day, Dean got dressed. The clothes were travelling clothes from the look of it. Dark brown pants, a brown shirt, a light brown vest, leather travelling boots, black leather gloves, a belt and a cape were on the chair. Except for the cape, the clothes were almost identical to the ones Dean used the wear beforehand. Dean looked like a regular traveller compared the rest of the members of his group. They all wore clothing that really stood out. As a hunter, one had to blend in with nature and would also need to be able to keep a low profile in villages and towns. Dean had always wondered whether the clothes the people he was travelling didn't shout out too much that they were a special kind of group, but people always guessed that they were a group of people with a unique taste of clothing. Dean would have said that himself if he would see the group if he wasn't a part of it. Although the people with a bit more money in town did wear clothing which looked a bit more expensive and colourful as well. While thinking of this Dean wondered how the others were doing. He was isolated from them, but from the last thing that he remembered, they weren't dead. A cold shiver went through Dean. The dream had been unique. Maybe that would have been his reality if he had truly died as well as the others. He did wonder if there truly was an afterlife though. There was one thing in common with the dream though, he felt empty. He was devoid of emotions even when thinking of Colette. He wondered whether his emotions had been overloaded and that he could not feel anything for a while because of that. He had no other explanation for it. Strangely enough Dean didn't mind it. He knew that only sadness and hate would fill him if his feelings would return to him. Maybe this was partly how Colette must have felt when she released the third seal. She did say that her emotions were more dull compared to before releasing the seal.

When Dean looked into the mirror again he saw no longer the wild man looking back at him, but a face that was familiar, although it could be seen that he needed to eat a bit more as there was almost no fat in the face itself. His hair was still a mess though and he really needed to go get a haircut again. Dean wondered why the hair of Lloyd hadn't grown that much. Just when Dean wondered what he should do next the door that couldn't be opened, did open and a woman dressed in the clothes of the base of Triet walked in, although she wasn't wearing her helmet. Dean thought that the woman looked familiar, but he could not remember why she looked familiar and who she resembled. Still, the feeling stayed.

"I see you have finally woken up Dean. So, how are you feeling?" the female 'Desian' asked Dean. Her voice was really girlish and sounded young. She had green eyes and brown straight hair that reached her shoulders, but it was her gaze that was awake and piercing. She had a neutral expression that didn't betray how she was feeling.

"A bit sore and low on mana, but fine considering the circumstances. How do you know my name?" Dean asked the woman standing in front of him.

"That doesn't matter how I know your name, I just know it." The woman said. She then walked towards the small table and sat down on one of the chairs. "I'm here to answer any questions you have as far as I am capable of doing. I recon it's going to take some take, let's make ourselves comfortable instead of standing the whole time." The thought progress of the woman was logical and Dean observed her more closely as he sat down, but he could find nothing more than he already noticed about the woman.

"I don't really know where to begin, so I'll just ask random questions that pop in my mind." Dean said to the woman. She just nodded. "First, may I know your name? I don't plan on calling 'Hey you' to you this whole time. Since you know my name, it should be fair if I know yours too." The woman smiled when he asked that question.

"You weren't kidding when you would say you would ask any question that would pop up in your head. My name is Alice." Dean wanted to ask something more, but Alice interrupted him. "I'm not here to talk about me. I have more things to do. If you're only going to ask questions about me, I'm leaving." Alice was planning on getting up.

"Please sit down Alice. I'm sorry if I offended you at any point. I just don't feel like myself at this moment."

"Well, we did drug you a bit, so it might be to the side effects of those drugs that you're not feeling yourself." When Dean looked confused at Alice, the female 'Desian' continued to explain. "Believe it or not, but you've been here longer than a week already. You had a huge fever, was wounded all over your body and seemed to be pain. In order to calm you down and help you recover we didn't also use magic, but also some kind of drug in order to calm you down. What the effects of that drug are, I don't know." Dean nodded.

"Well, that's explains that. Then where am I? I'm suspecting that this is the base of Triet Desert."

"That is correct. You are now in the Base of the Triet Desert. When we saved you from Yggdrasill we brought you here. You do remember that, don't you?" Dean nodded again.

"Then where are the others? Are they kept here as well?" Dean asked his question.

"One of the questions I expected you to ask first. Your friends were brought here as well, but they are here no longer. They escaped this base and have fled into Tethe'alla. It seems they are now heading towards the capital of Tethe'alla called Meltokio."

"Did they know that I was alive?"

"They suspected as much, but as they couldn't find you when they were trying to escape, they were forced to leave without you."

"So I'm the only one from the group you rescued who is still here?"

"That is correct. We have several agents of us keeping close watch on the group however. That way we can keep close watch on them and intervene if they plan on doing something too stupid for their own good."

"You're keeping taps on them and will help them in case of an emergency. It seems that you are willing to help them, but at the same time you're not working together with them. Just who are you people? You dress like Desians, but you stole things from the Human Ranch in Luin. You were also the ones that attacked Colette on the day of the Oracle. You also saved us from Yggdrasill, so it seems you're not on his side. What are your objectives?" Alice wanted until Dean was done talking before she started her explanation.

"We are the Renegades. We're an underground resistance dedicated to fighting the Desians… or rather, the Cruxis."

"So your enemy is our enemy. Yggdrasill did say that he was the leader of both the Desians and of Cruxis. Does that mean they're the same organisation?"

"That is correct. Cruxis controls the Church of Martel in the open and operates the Desians from behind the scenes. The Desians are a subordinate organisation within Cruxis. The Church of Martel is nothing more than an instrument created by Cruxis to rule the world. Those who call themselves angels are half-elves, who've evolved by using a special type of Exsphere called Cruxis Crystals. They aren't gods or anything of the sort. Of course, the Church of Martel and the Chosen know nothing about that." Dean thought for a little bit before asking a bit more.

"So my hunches have been right this whole time… The Church of Martel has taught us nothing but lies in all those years, but it seemed they were told the same lies as the truth as well. I know that the Journey of Salvation is to reverse the mana flow between Sylvarant and Tethe'alla and as well to revive the Goddess Martel. However, you just said that the angels are half-elves who use Cruxis Crystals… Does that mean that the Goddess Martel is fake as well? Is there no Goddess at all, just like I originally thought?"

"As far as I know does the Goddess Martel exist, but she is no Goddess. I don't know the details on this subject."

"Mmm… Fair enough, but I assume that the revival of Martel isn't necessary in order to restore peace and order to both worlds."

"I believe that the revival of the Goddess Martel is a personal goal of Lord Yggdrasill, but most of his followers don't believe or know this. They've been told that the revival of the Goddess Martel is crucial and of great importance. This is the conclusion I came to myself. I'm not certain of this."

"I see…" Dean thought for a little while before he came up with his next question.

"Are there any other questions you have?" Alice asked Dean after a minute.

"Yes. There are. Is there a way how to cure Colette and make her normal again? And if there is, do you or the Renegades know how?"

"There is a way, but I'm not allowed to say it to you." Dean raised his eyebrow at this. "But I think you can solve the answer to your question. I did say that angels use Cruxis Crystals which are an evolved product of the Exspheres."

"And Exspheres are harmful to people, unless they wear a Key Crest… Is it really that simple? Is all she need a Key Crest?" Dean thought out loud.

"Like I said, I'm not allowed to answer that." Alice said, but Dean could see in her eyes that and the way that she suddenly had a smile on her face that he had come to the right conclusion. Now Dean thought of another thing. The experiment that they put him under… Dean suddenly remembered that the purpose of the experiment was to create a Cruxis Crystal. After the last fever his sight and hearing had improved, just like Colette's. Dean looked at his own Exsphere. It did look a bit different from the last time he had looked upon it. Was it still evolving? Or was it complete now? Dean wondered about that.

"Is something the matter?" Alice asked when she noticed how Dean was observing his Exsphere.

"No, it's nothing." Dean took a deep breath. He would have to test his battle capabilities sometime soon. "So my friends have escaped and I'm not allowed to leave this place. Am I your prisoner? For what reason are you keeping me here and what do you want from me?"

"I'm afraid that is another question that I cannot answer." Dean looked at the woman doubtfully. "Don't worry. We mean you no harm. The fact that the door is locked is to make sure that you won't escape and chase down your friends. We want to talk to you first."

"So who will answer the question about what you want from me?"

"Our leader will answer that question. Do you have any other questions?"

"No, I don't. You've answered them all." Alice stood up and turned to the door.

"I hope I have informed you enough. Until next time." the woman said as she saluted Dean, entered the code in such a way that Dean could not see what the code was and left the door. Dean had hoped to chat for a little bit more, but the woman was doing her job like she was some kind of robot or machine. This Alice didn't seem to have at least resemblance to the sweet little Alice that Dean had met in Asgard. He hoped that the little girl was fine. Well, the monsters were probably looking after her, so she should be alright. He still was worried. Trying to shake off those thought Dean looked around the room again in order to find something to do. If he had a book to read, then he would know something to do, but there was nothing in the room. A luxury room, but with nothing to do. Dean considered taking a bath, but the shower had been enough. With nothing to do Dean studied the locked door and the mechanism behind it. He considered the option of frying the controls of the door, hoping it would open that way, but if that failed the door would be stuck and the ones who run this base would have to force it open or he would have to force it open himself. They would immediately know that he would have tried to escape once they saw the broken controls. The relationship between Dean and the Renegades would get worse like that. Well, the relationship between the two of them wasn't that good already, since that his friends escaped. In order to prevent him from escaping they had locked him up. He would have agreed to speak with them even if they had told him that his friends had escaped. Dean did feel a bit disappointed that they had left without him, but they wouldn't do such a thing unless they were cornered. Dean then stopped thinking. Did he just feel something? Were his emotions returning? A feeling of relief and content flowed through him as soon as he asked himself that. And with that his emotions returned to him, like a waterfall. First came the sadness as he thought of Colette. Then came the hate as he thought about Kratos. Then the concern for the rest of his friends. With the return of his emotions Dean realised that he was wasting his time here. He had to go after his friends. He walked towards the door, determined to force it open from. As he walked towards it the door opened again. A broad man was standing in it.

"Ah Dean. I'm glad to see that you're safe." the Renegade said to Dean. It then took off its helm.

"Thomas? You're alive?" In front of Dean was standing a man who was supposed to be dead. Behind him Alice was walking to him.

"Alive and breathing! What are you so surprised about? Didn't Alice tell you about me?" the man asked Dean.

"Thomas! Wait! I told you not to go directly to him. We have to await orders." Alice said to the broad man as she walked into the room as well. The door closed behind her.

"Come on now Alice. Do you hear what you're saying? You were the one who was burning to see Dean again." This made the woman blush a bit. Dean didn't know what to say or to think. Thomas was acting and implying that this Alice was the Alice from Asgard, but this woman was fully grown, didn't have any paintings on her body and acted totally different. That was not all. The little girl Alice had blue eyes and blond hair, not brown eyes and brown hair. As Dean looked confused at the duo, Alice kept silent as well. "Wait… You don't mean to tell him you haven't told him yet? I thought you wanted to tell him?" Thomas sighed. Alice then turned to Dean.

"Can you close your eyes?" the woman then asked.

"What?" Dean asked, even more confused now.

"Just close your eyes until I say you can open them." The woman was all flustered now. Dean looked at her for a little while, then looked at Thomas who nodded to him and closed his eyes. He heard some strange noises, but he didn't open his eyes. "Okay, you can open them." the familiar voice of a girl said. Dean opened his eyes and saw the little girl Alice back from Asgard looking at him. Her skin wasn't painted this time, but it was her alright. She was wearing a sweater that the grown-up Alice had been wearing just now that was part of the uniform of the Renegades. It was way too big for her. The pants were lying on the ground.

"Alice? Wait… Can you just explain to me what just happened? I understand that the grown-up Alice and the Alice I met in Asgard are the same, but how?" Alice picked up the pants and held them up and then somehow began to change. Her face intensified and Dean thought he could see glowing red eyes for a little while, before Alice closed them. The strange sound was there again and in front of Dean the little girl Alice changed. The colour of her hair changed, her length changed and before Dean knew it the grown-up Alice was standing in front of him. She was breathing heavily and seemed to be in pain. When she opened her eyes again, they were still glowing a bit in the same red colour, but after a second the colour of her eyes had the same brown colour again. "Well, that is something I have never seen before. How painful is it?"

"Quite painful." Alice answered. "You're not going to freak out?" She then asked surprised.

"Well, it's more than I'm really curious about that whole transformation than that it freaks me out." Alice then looked at Dean with a blank expression. "Look, I've seen angel wings appear on the girl of my dreams, I've learned that the whole Church of Martel is a lie and then Cruxis and the Desians are the same organisation. Something like this doesn't scare me. Besides, we live in a world filled with magic. I'm more surprised about something if it is something that isn't possible, except for maybe returning the dead to the world of the living. That is something that is just impossible."

"See? I told you we could trust this guy." Thomas said to Alice. She then began to cry.

"Don't mind me, I'm just happy." She said while tears were still flowing down her face. Thomas put his arm on her shoulder to support her. Alice then wept her tears away. "I'm okay." She smiled again and her eyes seemed alive again. This was the Alice that Dean knew. The one who showed her emotions. Dean smiled at her. "I can tell you the reason why I can do that."

"You don't need to tell me if you don't want to." Dean said to the Renegade woman. She just shook her head.

"No, I want to tell you." Alice took a deep breath and her face became neutral and distant again. "I'm a product of an experiment of the Cruxis." Alice started to tell. She did her best to distance herself from the story, but Dean knew it would still hurt her. "They were curious what would happen if the cells of monsters and humans would be combined. I don't know how they did this, but they did manage to create a being that was part monster and part human, but still looked human. I know that this took many, many years, but they finally succeeded. The result was me." She put her hand on her chest as she said the last sentence. "I was raised there in that cold environment without love. They gave me what I needed, but there wasn't any love behind their actions, only logic. When I was hurt and crying over it, they healed it, but could not understand why I was still crying after the pain was gone and the wound was healed. Oh, I forgot to tell you, but I was raised by angels. The only ones who did show emotions were Yggdrasill and sometimes guests who came, but that was seldom. They also did several experiments on me and most of them weren't pleasant and some of them were extreme. One time I changed my appearance in order to escape the next experiment, but as soon as they found out I could that, they just focused on this ability of mine. In the end I became as heartless, emotionless and as logical as them. I even did several missions for them. One day on one of my missions I got hurt. Monsters tried to attack me and that's when I learnt that I could communicate with monsters. Somehow I convinced the monsters that I was not an enemy of them by transforming. I changed myself into a creature that like a monster. Although I could understand them, I did not know their language. The monsters took me into their group as one of theirs and looked after me, allowing my wounds to heal. In that time I learned how to speak their language. Fascinated by the way these monsters were living, I decided to stay a little longer with them. I even hunted together with them and I do have to admit that I killed humans as well and ate their flesh. During my missions for Cruxis I had killed a lot and the thought that eating your own kind was revolting, didn't occur to me. Besides, I had learned that I was part monster and part human. That explained my ability to transform and to able to communicate with monsters. One day I came across the Renegades together with the pack of monsters I was living with at that time. We were hunting and humans, half-elves and elves were part of our prey. So we ambushed them, not realising the mistake we had made. My fellow monsters were slaughtered and an emotion and feeling I had not experienced for a long time came over me, that feeling being fear. I tried to escape, but it seemed that the roles of hunter and prey had been reversed. I was now the prey and the Renegades were the hunters. In my fear I transformed into a human and begged for mercy. They captured me and brought me to their base. In the beginning I was their prisoner. They interrogated me, but I had calmed down and had found back my stubbornness and logical thinking. I also blamed them for killing those monsters, who had become family in my eyes. Even though I was their prisoner, they didn't torture me. Time passed as I was their prisoner and I was starving myself to death, determined to take my secrets into the grave. In those days it was that I met Thomas. He entered my cell one day and tried to feed me. I refused to eat and drink and he left me after trying for a little while. I thought at the time it was just one of their new tricks into trying to convince me to trust them. The next day the man came again and tried to feed me again. I refused again of course. The following day he was there again. This went on until I was too weak to resist. He let me drink and chewed my food, so it was easier for me to swallow it. He visited me several times a day, but left me alone for hours when he left. Slowly my strength returned. I still did not trust this man who was feeding me. One day I attacked him and bit him, but he just hugged me and embraced me until I calmed down. It was only until I had calmed down that I realised that I was crying. I was confused at my own emotions and did not understand them. The man did not show hostility and only tried to comfort me and let me feel save. After that I started to look forward to the visit of the man. He introduced himself as Thomas. From then on we started to talk little by little. He told a bit about himself and the reason why he was with the Renegades. I told him about myself and about my past. When he started to cry when he heard about my past, I did not understand why he was crying. What I did not realise was that I was crying myself as well. Slowly by talking to Thomas the wall I had built around my heart was starting to break and disappear. After some time Thomas introduced me to the leader of the Renegades. He asked me if I wanted to join them. Not wanting to be torn apart from Thomas I accepted his offer. Ever since then I have been together with the Renegades. Thomas and I have confessed our love for each other in the meantime as well." Alice now looked at Thomas with love and tenderness. He held her hand and squeezed it gently. Dean was overwhelmed by the story. This woman had been through even more than himself. She had been born as an experiment of the Cruxis and they had done so many terrifying experiments to her. Compared to what he himself had been through, it was nothing. Seeing Alice and Thomas together and so happy filled Dean with joy and also with jealousy. Now he really longed for Colette. Feeling the pain of the woman in the time she was with Cruxis, Dean started to cry.

"I'm sorry. Your story is just so overwhelming." Dean dried his tears. Thomas was smiling at him. The man had stayed silent the whole time Alice had told her story. He stood by her with love and support.

"To be honest, we have watched you, the Chosen and the others from the beginning." Thomas said, his face and voice now serious. "Ever since Lloyd escaped the Triet Base of ours Alice and I have been commanded to keep watch over you. The two of us are a special force that is specialised in spying. We kept our distance from you and didn't help you in any situation. However, the capture of you by the Desians wasn't seen by us. Until they rescued you from the Human Ranch in the area of Palmacosta, we didn't even know that you were part of the group. Curious about this new member of the group and what he was like, we went to Asgard. We disguised ourselves as the shop keeper of the weapon shop and his daughter. The people of Asgard got to know us as that and Alice wasn't really accepted by the town because of her appearance, but that was part of our group. We wanted to know if the Chosen and her companions would be able to accept those who were different. To our surprise you accepted Alice as soon as you 'rescued' her from those monsters. You see, you arrived in Asgard sooner than we had expected. Alice had noticed the unrest of the monsters in the area and had decided to investigate. When you entered the shop I acted as the concerned father who wanted to save his daughter. It was really hard to put up with that act, but we managed well. When we found out that all of you were able to accept people who were different, we wanted to thank you. So we gave you those weapons. The silver sword I gave you was my own weapon to be honest. It had been passed down in my own family."

"I'm sorry Thomas. The sword was destroyed in the fight with Yggdrasill." Dean apologised to the man. Thomas shook his head.

"It's okay. Weapons can be replaced and it served its goal well. I'm more happy that you and the others are alive. If we hadn't rescued you just in time…" Thomas didn't finish his sentence. He then shook his head. "I'm sorry, I have said too much. It's about time to introduce you to our leader." At that moment another Renegade walked into the room.

"Our leader wants to see you. Please follow me." the Regenade said to Dean.

"We'll see you after the meeting with our leader. So see you soon." Thomas said.

"Yes, see you soon." Alice said. Dean didn't say anything, unable to find the right words. He just waved them goodbye as he followed the Renegade through the base. Dean was led from one part of the base to the other, until he lost sense of direction. The base itself was similar to a Human Ranch. The doors were mechanical and all made out of steel. The hallways were plain and it seemed the whole base was made out of stone and steel, making it very sturdy. There were all kind of devices everywhere and the base was filled with other Renegades who all wore the same uniform. They also wore helmets, making it hard to distinguish one Renegade from another, just like it was with the Desians. Every Renegade was armed with a weapon. Dean saw mostly swords, hammers and magical wands and staffs, but other Renegades had equipped other weapons as well. While he was observing his surrounding, he reached his destination. He walked into a room. The doors opened automatically, using a technology Dean was unfamiliar with. This room was luxurious as well, but different from the room Dean was been in. The room was smaller, filled with paintings and there was a desk in the at the end of the room. Dean recognised the room. It was the same room they had fought Botta when they were trying to rescue Lloyd from which they thought it would be Desians. It had been the Renegade Base after all. Botta wasn't in the room this time, but a different person. A man with long blue hair which was hold into a ponytail and blue eyes were sitting at the desk. He was wearing a cape the partly hid his clothes beneath. Beneath the cape there was a body chest armour which was red, black and adorned with gold, white pants and boots the same colour of the chest armour. The armour seemed sturdy, but didn't restricts his movements. He was also wearing gloves that reached to his elbow. He had an aura of authority and superiority around him. In a way the man reminded Dean of Yggdrasill and Remiel. Those two also seemed to look down on others.

"Ah, you have finally woken up." the man said to Dean. Dean could sense it. This man was strong as well. His pose seemed relaxed, but Dean could tell that the man would instantly react if somebody would attack. The skill and strength of the man should be the same of Kratos. He still was nothing compared to the strength of Yggdrasill. The leader of the Desians had also looked down on Lloyd, him and the others, but Dean knew that Yggdrasill strength was so enormous, that he could easily crush down his enemies like they were just bugs getting in his way. The man seemed to notice how Dean was observing him in a short instance and he smiled.

"So you are the leader of the Renegades. May I have your name since you already know mine?" Dean asked the man and bowed down a little, not wanting to insult this man. He was in enemy territory after all. It was wise to behave himself at this time, if he didn't want to be thrown back into a cell.

"So you've been taught manners. My name is Yuan and as you said, I am the leader of the Renegades."

"So Cruxis is your enemy, as well it is ours. However, it seems our ways of defying Yggdrasill is different." Dean knew who these men were. They had attacked Colette in Iselia and had abducted Lloyd in Triet. He had attacked two of his best friends. He wasn't sure what to expect from this Yuan.

"Haha, you're also quite direct. I like that. It seems we'll be able to get along fine. Please drop your guard and relax. Let me explain my actions."

"You trust me that much?" Dean asked surprised. He hadn't expected to get answers that easily.

"We've already told you much. We're not about to let you go and do as you please." Dean eyed the man carefully. "But as you are in this situation it would only be fair to tell you the truth." Dean let out a sigh. He wanted to go after Colette and the others, but it seemed he had to be patient and wait for the right time, although he did wonder if that time would come. They didn't trust him and they had enough reasons for that. He would have to work hard in order for them to trust him.

"Well, now I know in what kind of situation I am in. Now please tell me, you attacked Colette back in Iselia and you attacked Lloyd in Iselia. Why?" The man continued to smile and watch Dean carefully. It seemed he had observed in the same way as Dean had observed the man and it seemed he liked what he had seen.

"We want to prevent the revival of Martel and the Chosen, who would become her vessel, was an obstacle. Unfortunately, the Chosen has completed the angel transformation. She is now a lethal weapon whose only goal is self-preservation." Dean clanged his fists. He didn't like the way they were talking about his beloved. "Don't worry, we wouldn't dare to lay a hand on her now. So that's the reason why we attacked Colette. As for why we attacked Lloyd, that is a little bit more complicated." Dean raised his eyebrow, showing he was interested. "You know that besides Sylvarant there lies another world called Tethe'alla. Believe it or not, these two worlds were once one. The people of Sylvarant and the people of Tethe'alla belong to two countries who were at war with each other during the grand kharlan war. Yggdrasill separated the two countries from each other, thus ending the long war. Yggdrasill knew that the cause that the Great withered and died is because of the enormous use of magitechnology."

"So in order from preventing that magitechnology would rise once again, he let one world prosper and one world wither." Dean figured out himself. That did make sense.

"Correct"

"But still. I know that Yggdrasill is strong, but how did he create another world? I'm not saying it's impossible, but how?" Dean asked.

"There is the King of the Summon Spirits in this world who can create a sword that can grant wishes. The Eternal Sword. Yggdrasill used that sword to create the two swords and it is also a great source of his power. He cannot die if he has the sword in his possession. We also need the sword to fuse the two worlds together."

"So the pact with the King of the Summon Spirits is needed in order to defeat Yggdrasill and turn everything back to normal. What about the mana shortage?"

"What do you think yourself? Where does the mana come from?" Dean thought for a little while. He knew that Sylvarant's mana was flowing towards Tethe'alla, but at the same time that mana has to have a source. The Great Tree was no more.

"There is no more Great Tree that produces mana, but still there is a source that creates mana. Or else the system of the two worlds who vie for each other's mana wouldn't be possible. Every form of life needs mana to live and even though a piece of mana is released when things die, mana is consumed more than it is released. I just don't know what that source of mana is."

"Just before the Great Tree died, he released a seed. We call it the Great Seed. It lies between the two worlds and supplies the flourishing world of its mana. However, this system will not last forever. We intend to restore the worlds into one and then let the seed take root, so another tree can be born."

"Why doesn't let Yggdrasill let the seed take root. I know he wants to uphold this twisted system, but he too should know that it won't last forever."

"Martel still lives within the seed. He wants to revive Martel. He is obsessed with it. If he lets the Great Seed take root, Martel will die."

"Just who is Martel?"

"That is for another time." There was a silence now. A lot of things made so much more sense to Dean, although he still had enough questions.

"Still… How does Lloyd fit with this?" Dean asked.

"The one who has a pact with the King of Summon Spirits, with Origin, is Kratos."

"Are Kratos and Lloyd related then?"

"Haven't you noticed?" Dean was confused. "Kratos is the father of Lloyd." Now that was a surprise. Dean knew that Kratos always treated Lloyd different, but still…

"Kratos tried to murder his own son? He betrayed not only Colette, me and the others, but also his own son? What kind of a father would do such a horrible thing?!" Dean asked angrily. His hate for Kratos had just increased even more.

"Still, Kratos cares for Lloyd. He was doubting to take down Lloyd during the fight. It was only because he fears Yggdrasill that he didn't take action to save his son. Believe it or not, but Kratos is acting on his own and trying to defy Yggdrasill in his own way." Dean didn't know what to believe. Kratos was a horrible father. Paul would jump in front of Yggdrasill if it meant saving Dean. That was how much Paul loved Dean, even though Dean was not his real son. If Kratos loved Lloyd and cared for Lloyd, he did so in a very twisted way.

"So you were planning on capturing Lloyd in order to convince Kratos to release his pact with Origin, the King of Summon Spirits. Why go so far? Can't Kratos just release the pact with Origin if he really wants to defy Yggdrasill?"

"That is because the pact is linked to his life. If Kratos releases the pact, he will die." Dean didn't care. If that traitor had to die in order to restore the world back to normal and bring peace to everything, then that was a sacrifice that had to be made. Even though Kratos had betrayed them all and Dean hated the man so much, he still wondered why. What were the reasons behind the actions of the man?

"Yggdrasill needs to be stopped. If Kratos needs to die, so be it." Somehow Yuan was a bit shocked when Dean told him that. Dean found this strange. It was the plan of the man himself to capture Lloyd and make Kratos release the pact.

"Now you know the truth." Yuan said to Dean, done with talking.

"Do Lloyd and the others know this?" Dean asked. Yuan looked Dean in the eye and shook his head. Dean realised that he had been thrown into a trap. Now that he knew so much, he was a threat. He wouldn't be able to go back to his friends that easily. Dean thought about Colette and a tear ran over his face with now that the thought of never seeing her again crossed his mind. "Just tell me one more thing!" Dean said with tears still flowing over his face. "Can Colette be cured? Is there a way to return her back to normal?"

"What do you think yourself? We've told you before. Cruxis Crystals are evolved Exspheres. What do Exspheres need if you don't want them to be harmful?"

"A Key Crest…" Dean softly said. "Is it really that simple?" Dean asked the leader of the Renegades.

"I have to admit, it will probably not be easy no. Only a Key Crest that is made by a dwarf can probably restore the Chosen back to her normal self. As you know, dwarves are a dying race. There aren't many left in this world. As far as I know only Cruxis has living dwarves." Dean knew that wasn't true.

"Dirk… The dwarf that raised Lloyd. He can help us." Dean said. Yuan looked at Dean mockingly.

"Do you really think we're just going to ask the help of the dwarf and ask nothing in return from you. If you truly wish to return the Chosen back to normal and we have the means to make that happen, then work for us." So that was the deal. They knew that Dean wouldn't refuse. That was probably why they told him all of that. They wanted him as an ally, but why? Dean closed his eyes for a moment and apologised to his friends. He then opened them again and looked Yuan with great determination in the eyes.

"Deal." Dean said to the offer of Yuan. The man smiled again. Things were working out exactly like he had planned and Dean knew this.

"Good. Somebody will show you around the base. I'll fill you in later with what tasks await you. Just rest for the time being. I see that you haven't fully recovered just yet." Yuan called in the same Renegade that escorted Dean to this room, although Dean thought it was the same man. Dean couldn't see for sure.

"I don't why the boss wants you to join our cause so badly, but still… Welcome to the Renegades." The man had stopped just outside the room and Dean had wondered what he had wanted. The man wanted to shake hands with Dean, his hand was floating in the air, ready to be grabbed. Dean smiled at the man and shook hands with him. The man seemed to be in a little pain as Dean grabbed his hand a bit too firmly. It seemed that Dean still didn't know his strength.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you with that. I'm just happy for making me feel welcome here."

"Ah, don't worry about it. I like a person with a firm handshake. Let me first give you this." The man put some kind of device on the wrist of Dean. It was a strange sort of device. It had several buttons on it and it was showing numbers as well. Dean looked confused at the device. That made the man laugh. "I'm sorry, I forgot that you were from Sylvarant and haven't even seen such a device ever before. The numbers on it show the time, but it also has other functions." Dean looked at the numbers, but don't understand what they meant. They number 14:05 was showing on it.

"I'm sorry, but what time is it then? I've never heard of the hour fourteen." Dean just didn't get it. Somehow this made the man laugh again. Dean looked at him offended.

"Don't mind me. It's just common sense for someone like me. It's strange that someone is asking these kind of answers. Then allow me to explain. You know that there is a day and a night, right?" Dean nodded. "Well, we have found out that one day has twenty-four hours. After those twenty-four hours are over, a new day begins. In the middle of the night a new day begins. When the sun rises in this region, it's around six hours in the morning. Right now it is two hour and six minutes in the afternoon. After midday we are used to start over with counting from one to twelve again. I'm sure you are used to this system. This watch just keeps on counting until the twenty-four hour." Dean understood right now. This system made more sense than using two times twelve hours. He had always found that system a bit strange.

"I see. This system makes more sense than the old system."

"I'm glad you figured it out so quickly. Now then, back the other functions of the watch. A watch is a device that tells the time by the way. Under the numbers there are two buttons. If you press the left button a map of the base will be shown." Dean pressed the button and a holographic image of the base was shown. It was the same like when Raine had brought out the map in the Human Ranch in the area around Luin, except that this map was much smaller. The Renegade then explained what all the different rooms were. Dean now knew why everyone knew their way around this big place. They had a map with them the whole time. "The other button lets you communicate with others on the base. Everyone is giving a number when they start here. Now, press the button." Dean pressed the right button now as well. Another image appeared above the device which showed the numbers zero till nine. "Now, my number is zero, five, seven, nine. I'm going to walk a bit further ahead. You stay right here. When I've turned around the next corner, press the right numbers and you'll be in for a surprise." This didn't really made sense to Dean, but he did as he was told. The Renegade walked a bit further away and then turned left at the next corner. Dean pressed the right button again as the screen had disappeared again and pressed the numbers zero, five, seven and nine. After he pressed the number he could suddenly hear the Renegade talking again.

"So it's a communicating device as well." Dean softly said while he was still looking at the watch.

"Ah, good. I was worried you pressed the wrong buttons." the voice of the Renegade came from the device. "As you had figured out, the watch lets us communicate with us each, but it has its limits. You can contact everyone in the base if you know their numbers, but it only has a range of ten meters outside of the base. It also happens that you get your commands through the watch, so make sure you always carry the watch with you. Now, come over here. It's strange explaining things like this." Dean walked over towards where the Renegade was. There was still one thing bothering Dean and that was the fact that he didn't know the name of the Renegade. When he reached the Renegade he introduced himself and asked for his name.

"Ah, I already knew your name Dean. You're quite well known in the base already. I don't know if that is a good thing. Just call me Steve. Now let's go to the dining hall. I'm sure you're hungry by now." Dean hadn't realised it, but Steve was right. He was famished. His stomach let out a growl to confirm the suspicion Steve had and the man laughed as he heard the voice. Steve laughed a lot at Dean, but Dean still liked the man. He had welcomed him and was acting really friendly to him. Dean could see in the eyes of the man that he wasn´t acting this way because of orders. Steve was just acting like himself. This made Dean smile. It seemed that a lot of good people were working as Renegades. Alice and Thomas were good people as well. Still, Dean missed his friends and silently wished he could be with them. It was quite a walk until they reached the dining hall and Steve meanwhile asked Dean what it had been to fight Yggdrasill. The man seemed to be really interested in his last fight against the angels.

"What about you? Are you a good fighter?" Dean asked with his mouth full after Dean had told him the kind of artes and magic he could do. They had reached the dining hall already and Dean was eating like crazy. He couldn't remember a time where he had been this hungry.

"Me? I know my way around a sword, but I'm not such a good fighter and you and your friends. Combat has never been my strong point."

"I'm sure you could defeat me as I am right now. I may not let it show, but my body still hurts and my mana is really low right now." Steve looked a bit surprised at Dean when he said that. Dean hadn't been lying. Walking around was painful and he was walking on purpose in a pace where it didn't hurt that much.

"Even after that much rest?" Steve asked bewildered.

"Well, I did gave it my all that fight, quite literally. When I disarmed Kratos at the end of the fight I used up all of my remaining mana and I probably forced some of my life force into that attack as well. I couldn't move at all after that anymore. If Lloyd hadn't gotten up and dealt the finishing blow, I would have been at the mercy of that traitor. When Yggdrasill arrived I was already done for. By willpower alone I managed to throw my sword at Yggdrasill. I was surprised myself that my sword flew that far. I merely wanted to distract him." Dean then remembered that Yggdrasill had known him. Maybe Yuan knew a bit more about that. Dean decided he would ask the leader the next time he saw him. Dean finished eating in record time and when he was full he was content and could just fall asleep if he wanted to. Steve had looked at him in wonder this whole time, not believing his eyes that a human being could eat so fast and so much in such a short time.

"Do you always eat like that?" Steve asked when Dean was ready. This made Dean laugh.

"No. Normally I'm faster." Dean jokingly said. The eyes of Steve even became even larger. "I'm just kidding. It was a joke. I was famished this time. I'm even surprised myself that I managed to do such a thing. I'm used to have table manners, but they just disappeared as soon as I saw that plate of food." Steve laughed again.

"It's really fun to hang around with you Dean. You're an interesting fellow."

"The others aren't?" Dean asked curious. Steve thought for a while.

"Well, some of them are, but most of the people here are quite serious. They are way too focused on their jobs or have had a rough past and just don't know how to fully relax anymore."

"We all have had our past, but that isn't a reason for making a joke from time to time."

"I know, right?" Dean smiled. Being with Steve cheered him up as well. He seemed like a carefree person, but he knew what he was talking about. Now that Dean was done eating, he took a look around him. There weren't many people in the dining hall. It seemed that the people who prepared the food were working every moment of the day preparing food for the amount of people that stayed in this base. This wasn't a little organisation. It was quite big and it needed to be if they wanted to have a chance against Yggdrasill. In the big room there were several quite large tables positioned in a neat order. Dean guessed that around five hundred people could eat here at the same time. Steve said that during lunch and dinner that the place was packed and that they actually needed an even bigger room. Dean was really surprised when he heard that. He also heard that several people worked here in the night as well. Most of those people were on night's watch and there was always one chef awake who would prepare food for those people. It was like the base was a living being that functioned twenty-four hours a day.

"So, do you want to go to the armoury next? You need a new weapon right?" Steve asked Dean. Dean's eyes lighted up when Steve asked that and the man knew enough. Dean checked his map several times in order to check where they were going. On the map there was a dot which represented the location of Dean on the map. This made it really much easier to find the way in this base. Dean noticed that while going towards the armoury that some of the rooms had locked doors and that some rooms had a puzzle in it that needed to be unlocked before they could enter the next room. There were three rooms like this after each other. Steve explained that these rooms were extra security in order to keep intruders out. You also needed some other device to electrify some security machines who were floating around at an exact location on the room in order to open the room. Dean used his magic to help with this, but he wished that he hadn't done that. Even the little use of magic drained his strength even further. Steve even asked if Dean was okay after Dean had used his magic to electrify the floating security drone. Steve had called the machines drones. Dean just said that he was more tired than he had expected. Steve looked at him with a look that said that he didn't trust what Dean had said. Dean smiled when he saw that look on the face of the Renegade. When Dean entered the armoury he understood all the security reasons. The place was huge and there were tons of weapons stored in the room. They were stored next to each other in storage stands that seemed to be designed just for the storage of the weapons. Mass produced weapons were kept together neatly in separate sections. In one section there were only swords, another sections for spears and another for axes. It went on and on like this. Steve walked by all of these sections further into the room. Dean didn't know where to look while he was walking behind Steve. There were weapons everywhere. He thought he saw even some sort of cannon as they had walked even further into the room. Dean also couldn't even see the end of the room. The cause for this was that Steve was carrying a lantern and the lights weren't turned on. When they reached the end of the room, there were special storage units against the wall. These units were closed and Dean could see that you needed to press some kind of code if you wanted to open these units.

"Your strength has increased even more, right?" Steve asked Dean.

"How do you?" Dean asked the man. The Renegade knew more than he showed. His behaviour hadn't been an act, but still it acted as a cover for the things that he did know and his true position. At first Steve looked seriously at Dean, but then showed a smile that Dean had seen the whole day.

"Our leader Yuan thinks highly of you and after what I have heard from you, I agree with him. These storage units are special, but you had guessed that already. That axe you were carrying, the old axe that Magnius had used, is now being kept in one of the storage units as well. Most of the weapons here are enhanced by Exspheres or are improved by magic." Steve walked towards one of the storage units, looking at the numbers above the units. Dean followed him until the man had apparently found what he had been looking for. "We don't have a magical weapon like the Eternal Sword in here, the strength of that weapon is just way too great, but we do have weapons whose strength cannot be replicated by any weapon that the technology of this era can create." Steve pressed a code at the unit, then pulled out of key out of nowhere and unlocked the unit. Slowly the unit opened and revealed its content. Inside was a silver sword. Its blade was quite broad. The sword's length was about the height of Dean, minus his head. It somehow looked like a sword that needed to be held with both hands, a two-handed blade. "Go on." Steve said and Dean grabbed the sword. As Dean expected, the sword was much heavier than the katana swords he had used before. The swords he had used before relied more on the technique of the user and not on its weight in order to defeat the opponents. This sword was more suited for someone like Kratos. Kratos used one-handed swords that relied on its weight in order to overpower its opponent. It could still be used to perform difficult techniques and in the same way Dean was used to fight, but due to the weight of the sword this was way more difficult to perform. Dean felt the weight of the sword, stepped out of the range of Steve and swung it around for a little bit. He tried his more difficult manoeuvres and evading with the sword in hand. Even though it was a big sword, Dean was able to use it as a one-handed sword, although he had to get used to the length of the blade. Steve looked impressed at him.

"I must say, it is quite an impressive sword, but besides it being a huge sword, what is so special about it?" Dean asked Steve.

"Oh, you'll figure it out eventually. With eventually, I mean tomorrow. I'll guide you around for a little more and I'll show you our training area. Tomorrow at ten o'clock in the morning, come at the training ground and I'll bring that sword. We'll test it out then." Dean really wanted to try it out at that moment, but he knew that he shouldn't and he couldn't. Steve grabbed something from the unit and gave it to Dean. It was a belt with the sheath of the sword. The belt was too much for Dean to put on normally, so he put it on in such a way that he could put the sword on his back. He was used to put his sword at his back and not at his side. It was a bit uncomfortable while sitting down like that, but Dean just preferred this over putting the sword at his side. Besides, people would think that the blade would need to be held two-handed and not one-handed. Dean could surprise them with this. Satisfied, the two of them left the armoury. Steve showed Dean around the base for a little bit longer, showing the training ground and some other rooms. Time flew by like this while Steve and Dean chatted about all kinds of things. During dinner Dean ate together with Alice, Thomas and Steve and it seemed that the four of them could get along just fine. Alice and Thomas were a bit surprised that Steve was showing Dean around, but when Dean asked them about Steve they dodged around the question and didn't really answer it. The whole case was getting a bit suspicious. Steve kept his helmet on the whole time, even though most of the people didn't do that. Dean didn't want to think too much about it, but it was a thing that stood out. After dinner Dean was feeling really tired. Alice and Thomas guided him back to his 'room'. He wasn't giving the code for getting outside the room just yet, but Dean knew he had to be patient about that. He expected that now that they had given him a formidable weapon they had somehow indebted him to them. All of their actions seemed to be out of kindness, but Dean could sense a superior motive behind all of these actions. It was all a bit suspicious, but the people were nice and honest, although they held back information from him. He was told a lot, but it still seemed that there was a lot that he still didn't know about. While he was lying in bed, he wondered how the others were doing and if they would find a way to turn Colette back to normal. With these thoughts he fell into a dreamless sleep.

In the middle of the night Dean woke up, his body was covered in cold sweat although he was feeling hot. Unable to get back to sleep Dean filled the bath with warm water. He found new sheets so that he could replace those which were covered in sweat. After he was done with cleaning his bed the bath was filled with warm water. He stepped into the bath. He then used some kind of soap to fill the bath with bubbles so he wasn't forced to look at his ugly scars. From the moment he had woken up he was fully awake. Now that he was relaxing in the warm water, he could feel himself getting sleepy again. He was glad that he did, because he was still confined in this room. With nothing to do his thoughts would go back to Colette and the things that had happened in the past. He would drive himself insane like that. He needed to be able to do something or else he would go mad. Even while he was relaxing in this soothing bath, his thoughts went back to all the things that had happened the last weeks. Dean concentrated on his breathing in order to empty his mind. Like this he went into a state of meditation that calmed his mind and soul. After awakening from his meditation the water was already getting cold. He flushed away the water, dried his body and went back to sleep. Due to the state of meditation he had been in, he was able to get back to sleep easily.

When Dean woke up again it was early in the morning. He looked at his watch and saw that it was a bit past five o'clock. This was the time he would normally wake up and go hunting or practise his swordsmanship. Not knowing what to do, he got out of bed and got dressed. He walked around the room, not knowing what to do. As he got closer to the door it opened on its own. There wasn't a guard or anything of the sort nearby, so Dean decided to wander around the base for a little while. The hallways were lighted by magitechnology during the day and the night as the Base was closed off from any form of daylight. Dean didn't feel at ease being in this Renegade Base. It was way too similar to a Human Ranch of the Desians. Memories of that horrible past came back to him now that he was walking alone in the hallways. Wanting to escape this feeling Dean fled towards the training ground. This room looked similar to the other rooms, but the big difference was the ground. That was made out of sand instead of the metal the whole Base was built from. There was also an equipment room with wooden weapons and targets that people could use to practise with. Dean didn't have his new sword with him. Steve had brought it with him, saying it needed some modifications. Dean grabbed a wooden sword and placed several targets around the room. Like all of the general rooms in the base, the training ground room was huge. It took some time before you would reach the other side of the room. The sand and the size of the room made sure that the room felt like some kind of arena. There were even spots at the sides where people could sit and watch. Dean visualised that he was some kind of gladiator and he was fighting in an arena as he was striking one target after another. He had reinforced the wooden sword with magic, so that it wouldn't break. He had done the same with some of the targets as he noticed when he kicked them that they flew through the room and became rather damaged of it. The sword also felt way too light for Dean and he needed to hold back and fight mostly with technique than with strength. He was dancing around the room like that, striking one target after another. After Dean was content with this, he put back the targets in the equipment room. When everything was put back Dean stepped back into the training room. He wanted to try a technique. It would become his most powerful attack if he managed to master it completely, but the attack put a huge pressure on his body and it drained his mana. In order to practice it, he would need a lot of room as well. This training ground was perfect. Dean spend his time in the training room until he was too tired to go on. He was also getting really hungry. He went back to his room, took a shower, changed clothes and ate a good meal at the dining hall. As time passed, more and more people entered the dining hall to eat. Dean had passed a few Renegades while walking around the base, but none of them had paid him any attention. It seemed that had gotten their orders to leave Dean alone. Just as Dean was done with eating and was about to put his dishes at the designated table, he came across Alice and Thomas. As usual, the two of them were together. They also saw him and greeted him. He waved back and the two of them approached him. It wasn't hard to spot Dean. He was the only one who wasn't wearing the typical Renegade uniform. Dean had noticed yesterday that there were slight differences between some of the uniforms. He figured that the difference showed the rank of the person. The Renegades were still some kind of rebel army. The whole base was a military on its own.

"Good morning Dean. You're up early." Alice greeted him with a smile. Dean was glad that he had heard the story behind the woman. She was being herself around him now and she could greet him with a warm smile. It was hard to imagine that this was the same cold woman he had met before.

"Good morning Alice. I'm always up early in the morning." Dean said back to her and showed her a smile as well.

"Oh, at what time do you wake up normally?" Thomas asked Dean. The three were searching for a place where they could sit. It seemed the whole base was awake right now and everyone wanted to eat. Finding a spot for three people wasn't as easy as one might think.

"Well, I've never had a watch before, but if I get up as early as I did today… Well, then it was a bit after five o'clock in the morning."

"That early?" Alice asked in wonder.

"Well, I'm used to go hunting in the morning or I joined Lloyd and Kratos with morning practice. Just when the sun rises the rest would wake up, we would eat breakfast and then continue travelling. That is the rhythm I'm used to." Dean wanted to sound cheerful, but as he mentioned Lloyd and Kratos he could feel a sting in his heart.

"So you are a morning person." Thomas concluded. This made Dean smile.

"Well, I wasn't when I was child. Even back then I got early in the morning to practise my swordsmanship with my dad, but it took about a year before I was able to get up on my own. My dad had to wake me up until that and even after I was able to get up on my own, it always took an hour before I was fully awake. During the years I finally got used to waking up early in the morning." Thinking about the past made Dean happy and a nostalgic feeling came over him. "Ah, there is a spot over there." Dean pointed at a spot where the three of them could sit. They quickly headed over there and sat down.

"Hey, we saw that spot first." A Renegade behind Dean said as soon as the three of them had sat down. Dean turned around to look at the Renegade. He noticed that the man was wearing a different uniform than most people. The Renegade also had a smug smile on his face and an arrogant look. It reminded Dean too much of a Desian. He didn't like the man.

"So what are you going to do about it?" Dean asked the Renegade as he looked at him with a murderous intent. Feeling uneasy the man stepped back.

"N-nothing." The man stammered. "Come on, let's find another spot." The Renegade said to his companions. Satisfied, Dean returned his attention to his new friends. The two of them just looked at him blankly.

"What? You have to fight for a spot over here, don't you?"

"Yes… It's just… What did you do?" Thomas asked him.

"That man reminded me too much of a Desian. He had that smug smile on his face and I could feel he was looking down on us. All of the Desians looked at me like that back in the Human Ranch. So I gave him a look that would make a baby cry." Dean explained.

"I guess you don't want to get stuck in a fight with you." Alice said. For some reason she was smiling at Dean.

"Well, I guess I could have taken the three of them out and say it was self-defence, but I wanted to know if he really had the guts and the experience to go into a fight. I guess he doesn't, but don't mind me. Eat up, your food is going to get cold." Following his advice, Thomas and Alice began eating. The two of them were eating totally different things. Thomas had already several pieces of meat on his plate and only a little bit of vegetables. Alice had mostly salad and fruit on her plate. It was strange that one's preferences in breakfast could differ that much.

"Well, I'm curious. Can you replicate the look you had on your face?" Thomas asked after he had swallowed his food and was ready to take another bite.

"I can try…" Dean closed his eyes. He thought of Kratos and Yggdrasill, the things he had done to him. Then his thoughts went towards the Desians and lastly towards the dead Desian Grand Kardinal Kvar. He let all of his anger and rage fill him up. When he opened his eyes again he looked at Alice and Thomas with such an intense and murderous look that it startled them and made them stop eating. Then slowly Dean relaxed and let the hate flow out of him. He closed his eyes again and he smiled at the couple that were gazing with an open mouth at him.

"I think that almost everyone would flee if they saw someone looking at them like that…" Thomas confessed.

"I've never felt so much hate and murderous intent before…" Alice softly said.

"Well, that gaze was probably the most hateful gaze I ever gave someone. Don't worry, I'm not planning on looking like that at everyone. Besides, I didn't like that guy."

"Am I glad that I'm not your enemy." Thomas then said. Alice agreed with him. It made Dean feel all awkward. People had never looked at him with fear before. He also wasn't planning on becoming a person that people should fear. He let out of sigh.

"So what have you been doing with your time up until now?" Alice asked Dean, wanting to change the subject.

"Well, the door opened as soon as I had gotten dressed, so that was nice." Dean said.

"Oh, we forgot to tell you yesterday. The door is locked during the night. It's just a precaution that assures us that you won't escape in the middle of the night. I don't know why the door opened that early in the morning, but it is set to open in the morning. Maybe it registers when you wake up? I'm not that technical." Alice explained. "So what did you do after that?"

"I wandered around the base for a while, but as I walked around it reminded me too much of a Human Ranch. This place really looks way too similar to such a place, you know? In order to escape from that feeling, I spend my time in the training ground. It was abandoned, so I could do whatever I wanted in there. I might have broken some things though… After that I was really hungry, but I took a shower before coming here. Just as I was done eating I met you guys."

"You broke some of the equipment at the training ground? Are you sure? That stuff is really sturdy."

"Well, it seems my strength has increased even more since last time I had such a fever. I wonder if it is related…"

"What are your plans for the rest of the day?" Alice asked Dean.

"Well, Steve did say to meet him at ten o'clock. Why do you ask?"

"You met up with Steve?" Thomas asked him bewildered.

"Is he an important person?" Dean asked confused, not knowing what the fuss was about.

"Well, I guess you'll find out for yourself." Alice answered. It seemed that were planning on keeping Dean in the dark about Steve. "Well, you can go with us until then."

"Sounds like a good plan." Thomas added. "What do you say?"

"Sure, I don't have anything else to do." The two of them were happy to hear that. Dean had wondered about it before, but it seemed that both Alice and Thomas were by themselves most of the time. It seems they were glad to have gained a new friend as well. "So, what do you guys need to do?"

"Oh, nothing special. We've got some reports that we need to give to several people. We'll be doing that most of the time this morning. This base is kind of big."

"Then it's settled!" Thomas slapped me on the shoulder. "You'll be stuck with us." He showed me his broad smile. Thomas himself was kind of a big man. He was both taller and broader than Dean. Even though his colossus size, he was a kind man that cared for the well-being of his friends and beloved one. Alice and Thomas were done eating at that moment and the three of them left the dining hall together. They first went to the room Alice and Thomas were staying. Compared to the room Dean was staying, their room was kind of sober. It was designed in the same way as the hallways of the base. There were two beds in the room, a desk for working on and a closet for their clothing and personal belongings. The two of them did have that hand-washing thing, Alice called it a sink, and a shower in a small room that was linked to their room. There were no paintings on the walls and everything was a of standard quality, used throughout the entire base. One thing Dean noticed was that there was a picture of Alice and Thomas in their uniforms, smiling at each other, on the desk. Alice grabbed some kind of plates which looked all technical and made of magitechnology. She explained that they were electronic devices which showed information. On those were the reports that Thomas and she wrote. Dean couldn't follow what she said and it was all magic and hocus-pocus to him. When Alice noticed that he didn't understand for one bit, she stopped explaining and just smiled at him. Thomas did remark that Dean was from an underdeveloped world, a remark that seemed to be similar to the one Steve had made the day before. Somehow this annoyed Dean. It wasn't his fault that Sylvarant was nearly on the brink of destruction. Thomas somehow noticed this and said that he shouldn't worry about it. Dean walked with them as the duo delivered one report after another to several other Renegades in the base. They talked while they were making their delivery. Dean kept a careful eye on his watch, making sure he wouldn't lose track of time. When it was nearly time, Dean said goodbye to the duo and quickly went to the training ground.

Steve was already waiting for him with the new sword for Dean. Dean didn't recognise him at first. He wasn't wearing his helmet and Steve finally revealed his face to Dean. He looked like a man who was in his late twenties. He had silver hair and blue eyes. He was smiling in the way Dean was used to see. There were three scars on his face. A small one next to his left eye, a cross-shaped one on his cheek and one on the right side of his forehead. The scars somehow suited the man. The uniform he was wearing was different today as well. Dean hadn't seen this variation of the uniform before. It looked Steve was actually a very important person, but Dean had figured something like that. Standing on the ground next to him was an impressive spear. That seemed to be the weapon of Steve.

"Ah, you're right on time. How are you feeling, ready to test out your new weapon?" Steve asked Dean in a casual way.

"I'm feeling much better. Somehow all of my wounds have healed and my mana supply is much better as well." Dean answered.

"You're not surprised at my get-up?" Dean shook his head.

"Not really. You let out yesterday that you weren't an ordinary soldier." That made Steve laugh.

"Ah, sorry for that. If I wore the same uniform as today and if I didn't wear a helmet we wouldn't have been able to walk around so carefree yesterday. I'm actually one of the generals and I'm the best teacher of this base. I wasn't lying yesterday that I'm not that good with a sword. I just didn't say that my primary weapon is a spear." Steve grinned. "So, you ready to spar?" He tossed the weapon with an effort to Dean, who caught it effortlessly. The sword was still in its sheath and the belt was attached to it as well. Dean put the weapon on his body. He unsheathed the weapon and got into a battle pose. Steve had picked up his spear as well and was ready to fight Dean.

"Isn't it a bit too dangerous to fight like this?" Dean asked. He didn't want to attack and accidentally inflict a lethal wound on his new friend.

"You shouldn't underestimate me, but you're right… I was getting carried away." He got out of his battle position and put the spear to the ground with the edge of the weapon pointing at the ceiling. "Mages!" he then shouted. Some of the Renegades who were sparring a moment ago now quickly ran towards Steve and saluted him. "Put up the best defensive barrier you can on me and that young man over there." Without questioning the point of the order, the mages immediately started to concentrate. They worked together and put quite a big barrier on both Steve and Dean. Dean was impressed by it. By the feeling of the barrier that was around him, a lethal wound would be prevented and only a small wound would be created instead. Dean could tell that Steve was wearing strong armour. At that moment Dean wasn't wearing any armour. This made sure that he could move around freely, but it also put him at a disadvantage compared to Steve. Wielding a spear, Steve had to make sure that he could move his arms around freely. The rest of his body could be equipped with armour as long it didn't restrict moving around too much. Dean eyed his opponent carefully before attacking. It was Steve who dashed towards him and took the initiative. He used the length of his weapon to keep Dean away in an effective way, making sure Dean couldn't get closer to him. Dean first only defended himself, making sure that he got a bit more accustomed to his new weapon. It was easier to defend against the long ranged attacked of the spear with his new broad blade. Steve was smiling at Dean. The man was probably not even showing his true strength. This made Dean more excited. He parried the spear away with quite a bit more force this time, making sure that the spear was clashed away and that Dean could get closer to the man. Steve used the force of the parry to turn around and attack Dean again, but with his strength and this sword Dean could block that attack as well and strike Steve. The Barrier took the hit and even though Steve jumped back to dodge the attack, the sword sliced through his clothing and revealed the armour hidden beneath.

"It seems that I have go all out against you like I thought." Steve said to me and his smile made place for a serious look on his face. Dean liked the look on the face. The battlefield wasn't a place for words. It was a place where only actions mattered. Dean took the initiative this time and dashed forward, but it seemed that Steve had been waiting for that. "One-hundred-Trust!" Steve shouted. The edge of his spear started to glow as Steve was about to unleash his arte.

"Wind Gale!" Dean shouted as he unleashed one of his artes in response to the attack of his opponent. This time the arte was different. It felt different. Just like it was the case of the spear of Steve, the blade of the sword of Dean glowed as well and the arte that he unleashed was more powerful as before. A blast of wind erupted from the arte of Dean and Steve was blown backwards and the arte of Steve was cancelled. Dean didn't pay any heeds to the effect of his attack and kept going forward towards Steve. The spear user found ground back at his feet and didn't lose his balance. He blocked the attack of Dean, but Dean kept on attacking his opponent, not giving him a chance to get away from Dean. At close range Steve was at a disadvantage and the man knew this. The spear wielder still held his ground even with this disadvantage. It was time for Dean to try out one of his new artes in a real battle. "Flame Spear!" Dean spun around with his sword as flames set the blade on fire and he jumped up in the air, forming half a helix with this attack, but Dean used the element of wind to jump again in the middle of the air, continued with his attack. At the peak of the jump, where Dean wasn't going up or down anymore, he unleashed another powerful spin with his sword, which was still set ablaze. The arte was a combination of fire and wind. At the beginning of the arte a blast of wind launched Steve up into the air at the same pace as Dean was jumping up, making sure that Steve was hit at least three time with this attack. The spear wielder was knocked against the ground. The magical barrier had prevented most of the damage, just like it was supposed to. The arte that Dean had performed was similar to an arte of Kratos and was based on that arte. The arte Light Spear of Kratos was a rising spinning attack in the air, it was just that the arte Light Spear did a single spin and not a triple spin like the arte Flame Spear.

Steve was breathing heavily as the barrier was also powered by the mana of the man himself. Even though he had suffered such a powerful attack, he wasn't ready to give up just yet. Dean had blown him away with his arte and there was a distance between them again, which was an advantage to Steve. The two of them knew that without the barrier, the fight would have been settled, but it wasn't right now. The fight had gathered quite a crowd right now. Most of the people who had been training were now watching the fight. There was a big circle around Dean and Steve, filled with spectators, but the two of them paid no attention to it. They only had eyes for each other. Steve lifted his spear above his head with a rising spin.

"Wind Slash!" Steve brought down the spear again and a slash of wind moved at incredible speed at Dean.

"Wind Barrier!" Dean shouted as he unleashed a new barrier around him. The barrier absorbed the wind attack, nullifying the effect of it. Dean carefully walked around Steve, observing him as he moved around him in a circle. Of course this was a distraction. Dean was gathering mana in the meantime and preparing for a spell. Dean smiled as he noticed that Steve was doing the same thing. It was now only a matter of time before one of them was done with preparing their spell.

"Air Blast!" Steve shouted. It seemed that he was the faster spellcaster out of the two of them. Dean knew this attack and it headed straight for him, making it easy to dodge. "Air Slash, times ten!" This had been the plan of Steve after all. He would first attack with a magic spell that was easy to evade and then attack with a distance attack which would hit for certain.

"Spiral Flare!" Dean unleashed his spell. This was a spell that was the same as Air Blast, but it had both the element of fire and wind. The spell and the artes clashed with each other, nullifying each other. Dean had run behind his own spell, knowing that this would happen and ran towards Steve and clashed with the spear wielder.

"One-hundred-trust!" Steve shouted as he unleashed the same trusting attack again.

"Super Lightning Blade!" Dean shouted as he too unleashed a trusting attack. The trusts of the attack of Steve were quick and many, but they weren't powerful. About five of those attacks hit Dean before Dean's attack struck Steve. The arte of Dean hit the spear wielder head on. The blast of wind that erupted at the tip of the sword pushed him backwards and the bolt of lightning that followed after that struck him dead-on. Steve was brought on his knees.

"I admit defeat." Steve said after panting for some time. Dean was tired as well, but he could have gone on. A silence followed after that and then slowly people started to clap their hands. After that the shouting began. It was only then that Dean realised that so many had gathered around him. He smiled. He had focused so much on his fight with Steve that he had lost track of his surroundings. He then looked at this new sword. The weapon had made his artes more powerful and the time he needed to prepare for a spell was less as well as he wielded the weapon. He had been using some spells as well that morning, so he could tell the difference. This wasn't just a weapon. It also amplified all of his attacks. Dean now understood the reason why this sword was so special. It wasn't because the sword was so big, it was because of its effect. Dean walked towards Steve and pulled him up as he still was on his knees. The two men then smiled at each other.

"So you like your new weapon?" Steve asked.

"Like it? I love it!" Dean said back with a smile on his face. The two of them then bowed to their audience, which provided for even more applause and cheering. Dean used his magic to heal himself and Steve. He had only a few scratches on his body as only the last attack of Steve had hit him. Dean was still impressed. Even though there had been a powerful barrier around him, that last attack of Steve had still inflicted wounds on him. After some time Steve got bored of the applause and ordered the men and women around him to get back to training. He then walked towards the side-lines together with Dean.

"I must say, I'm quite impressed. I can now understand how you managed to fight on almost equal ground with Kratos."

"Well, if I would have had this sword at that time, I might have had more chance to take him out."

"You think you can take him out right now?" Dean shook his head.

"His attacks were strong, but he wasn't aiming at any lethal spots. If he would have wanted, he could have killed all of us back then. In that regard, he was still holding back."

"He is quite a fearful opponent."

"That, he is… His guard is perfect and even if you break through that guard, he is protected by a magical barrier and his armour. His stamina is much greater than mine. Even though I know more advanced spells than him by now, his magic spells are still more powerful than mine. He knows several combinations of artes that are impossible to block and even if you block or evade those artes, there is no space for a counterattack. He has no openings. He is like the ultimate swordsman who is even gifted with magic." Dean spoke out of experience. He had fought the man in many practice fights and at the Tower of Salvation. He had found no weaknesses. One on one he was invincible and even when fighting with a group he is able to take his enemies out one by one.

"So, he is the enemy you have to defeat?" Steve asked Dean. Dean shook his head again.

"No… Even if I was able to defeat Kratos, there is one enemy who is far more powerful than Kratos."

"Yggdrasill…" Steve answered the question of who that enemy was. Dean nodded.

"The skill of Kratos is probably much better than Yggdrasill, but even without fighting him I know that Yggdrasill is much more powerful than Kratos. If that angel gets serious, he only needs to land one attack on you and you're dead. All of his attacks are lethal, even the ones that can hit multiple targets at one time. He probably knows magic as well and I guess the same applies for those magic spells of his. From what I've heard of Yuan is that as long he has the power of the Eternal Sword, he cannot die as well." Dean took a pause with his story. "Kratos is powerful yes, but with enough time and practise a talented person can become as strong or even stronger than him. Yggdrasill is different. His power is like that of a god. All who defy him will be utterly destroyed."

"You survived an encounter with him." Steve pointed out. That made Dean smile for some reason.

"Yeah, that's true, but that's only because he was playing with us. He wasn't interested in killing me as well. Somehow, he knew who I was."

"You've met with Yggdrasill before?" Steve asked bewildered.

"No, but somehow he knew me. He knew about Lloyd as well. Just who is he?"

"That, I don't know. I only know that he is our enemy."

"We shouldn't have picked an enemy who we can defeat." Dean said as a joke.

"Unfortunately, we didn't. I guess we have to become even stronger." Dean sighed. He then looked Steve seriously in the eye.

"Yes, we have to…"

"Enough of this serious talk. I'm thirsty. Care for a drink?"

"As long as it isn't an adult drink, I'm fine."

"What? You've never had alcohol before?" Dean looked at Steve with doubt.

"I don't know how old you think I am, but I am still not of age that I'm allowed to drink yet."

"Just how old are you then?"

"Um… Considering the time that has passed during the journey… I guess I am seventeen right now." Steve then kept looking at Dean. "Is there something wrong?"

"No… It's just that… I was beaten by a seventeen year old boy…"

"Together with the others, we did defeat Kvar and he was an old magician. How old are you then?"

"Mmm… Just as I guessed. You're human, aren't you Dean?"

"Yes, I am. You're not?"

"No, most of the Renegades are half-elves. I am one too. You didn't know." Dean shook his head. "Hmm… I may not look like it, but I'm one hundred and thirty years old." Now it was Dean's time to stare at Steve.

"But you look like someone who is in his late twenties."

"Time flows different for elves and half-elves. I have fought Yggdrasill all of my life. Did you know that it is rare for humans to be able to use magic?"

"Yes, I've heard that only half-elves and elves are supposed to use magic. Kratos can use magic, just like me."

"Hmm…"

"What, do you know why I can use magic? Because I don't." Steve shook his head this time.

"No. Elves and half-elves can sense their own kind and whether someone is gifted with the power of magic. I can feel that from you as well, but it feels different. You've got the feeling of someone who had the power of magic and at the same time you feel like any other human."

"So you can feel the presence of other half-elves, elves and the presence of magic? I can't feel anything like that."

"Another sign that you indeed are human."

"How about Colette? After she transformed into an angel she was able to use magic as well."

"Ah, that. One of the effects of a Cruxis Crystal is that it allows everyone who equips it can use angelic magic. That magic is always of the element of light."

"I see… Thanks. I didn't know those things." Steve then looked at the hand of Dean and then at Dean.

"Are you sure that you're not carrying a Cruxis Crystal instead of an Exsphere?" Steve asked Dean after a while. The two of them were now walking towards the end of the training hall. There was supposed to be a room nearby where people could get something to drink.

"I've wondered about that myself as well. It is true that at the time I was captured by the Desians they were trying to create a Cruxis Crystal. It seems that the Cruxis Crystal wasn't yet completed. My hearing, eyesight and strength have increased, but I can't grow any wings or use angelic magic just yet."

"Have you tried then? To turn into an angel, I mean."

"I don't know how. With Colette it happened spontaneous when she released the first Seal I've heard. Since then she knew how to grow those wings and to put them back again. I never asked her about how she did it myself, since that I didn't know that a Cruxis Crystal is responsible for the transformation and that Cruxis Crystals are an evolved form of Exspheres." They had reached the other room and Steve had grabbed two bottles of water. Grateful, Dean drank some of the water. He should have known that Steve was kidding about drinking alcohol.

"Well… I've been told that our leader Lord Yuan will be gone for some time this morning. He instructed me to keep you busy. Sometimes his orders are more of a pain in the ass than helpful." Steve sighed.

"Don't complain, it makes you sound like an old man." Dean joked around and laughed for a bit.

"Watch your tongue now. You may have beaten me, but I'm still a general. I can still order to throw you into jail just like that, you know?" Dean knew that Steve was joking around, because the half-elf had a smile on his face. "You know, I had expected this much, but you don't bear any grudge against half-elves, do you?" Steve asked, suddenly changing the subject. Dean looked surprised at the man.

"Um… No? Why should I? Is a person evil just because they are a half-elf? I think that way of thinking is bullshit. Excuse my language, but what I think what matters is that the actions of a person count. I don't really care if they are human, half-elves or elves or even something different than that. If there was a friendly monster who would not eat humans or attack them without a reason and who did good things for others, then I wouldn't mind having such a monster as my friend."

"I see. That's good to hear, but that's quite a grey area in deciding who is evil and who is good. I mean, even if you look at Yggdrasill. He is the one who created this twisted system and he makes many people suffer through his actions, but he also supports many others. Many half-elves are rejected by society and are the victim of discrimination. Yggdrasill welcomes those half-elves and offers them a home, food and a purpose. In the eyes of those people he is the good guy."

"I don't really think there is an absolute evil or an absolute good in this world. Like you said, it's all a matter of perception. The surviving Desians of the Human Ranch of Luin probably think that I am evil as well. After all, I've killed many of their companions and helped slay the leader of their ranch."

"So you see the world as it is…" Steve muttered to himself. Dean pretended that he hadn't heard it.

"So, general Steve. What am I supposed to do until Yuan returns?" Dean asked half joking, half serious.

"Well, you're a battle crazy fighter." Dean raised one of his eyebrows at that. "So I'm ordering you to help me train these soldiers. You've become this strong by fighting many monsters and strong opponents. Several of the soldiers that we train here don't have that kind of experience. We let them practice with fighting against targets and at each other with wooden weapons. The more experienced fighters are out on field missions most of the time. I used to do that too, but Lord Yuan commanded me to train these soldiers. I'm also in charge if we get attacked by Cruxis. There are other tasks that I have to do as well. In other words, I need help training these soldiers. Will you help me with that?" Steve was looking serious the whole time. Dean had stopped smiling as well. It was a serious request.

"Well, it's better than hanging around with nothing to do." Dean said joking. Steve stared annoyed at him. "You can count on me Steve. I'll help you train these soldiers."

"Good. You can practice as much as you want early in the morning. I had read in the report that you wake up early, so I had the doors unlocked that early. You don't need to thank me. I was watching you through the cameras this morning. It got me even more excited to fight you in person."

"So you saw my technique…" Dean said with a serious tone. Steve wasn't there in person in the morning. He must have used some kind of magitechnology to spy on him. He used the word cameras…

"Yes, but I don't know how you did that. I don't care as well. As soon as I realised what you were doing, I stopped watching. I won't watch you in the morning from now on. I'll also make sure that the door to your chamber is unlocked from now on, so you can have a stroll if you wake up in the middle of the night." Dean wanted to say something, but Steve interrupted him. "Yes, we are keeping a close watch on you. Your friends weren't cooperative, so we will keep an eye on you the whole time you are here. I'm warning you. Don't escape. I don't want to fight you as my enemy." Dean had expected this much, but he wasn't glad to hear this. Steve noticed his change in mood. "Look, I trust you, but I still have my orders." Dean shook his head.

"No, don't trust me on that matter Steve. If I find an opportunity to escape and get back to my friends, even if it means fighting you, I will take that opportunity." Dean said to his new friend in honesty. Now it was Steve's time to look strangely at Dean.

"You're something special, you know that?"

"No, I'm just a guy who is trying his best to protect his beloved one against the enemy of the world." Dean whispered. Steve was walking towards the training ground again and probably didn't hear him.

"Also." Steve stopped and turned around to face Dean again. "I said that you are allowed to train in the morning, but if you want to spar with someone, you have to fight with a wooden weapon and you also have to take your Exsphere off. One of your kicks can prove to be lethal if they hit the right spot if you're equipped with that Exsphere of yours. I watched you this morning. I know what you're capable of."

"I guess I can understand that. Anything else you want to tell me?"

"No, that was all. Now let's grab something to eat. It's lunch time already." Dean spend the rest of his time with Steve that day. He was forced to wear a Renegade uniform, which Dean didn't like at all. He preferred those travelling clothes better. He also liked that he didn't look like the rest with them, but Steve explained that it was part of the rules after all. If he didn't like it, he could just stay in his room day in, day out. Dean preferred wearing a stupid uniform comparing to having nothing to do the whole day and that for an undetermined time. His orders were to help train the soldiers from nine in the morning until five in the evening. He had lunch break from twelve till one and was allowed to do as he pleased for the rest of the time as long as he didn't break any rules. Dean didn't mind training the soldiers. What he did mind was that he was stuck with doing this for an undetermined time. He wanted to get reunited with his friends as soon as possible, but he was stuck here. The problem was that his friends were in Tethe'alla and he was still in Sylvarant. He didn't know how to get to Tethe'alla. There should be a way, because his friends made it to Tethe'alla as well. If he had known how to and was able to, he would escape at this moment. He didn't care if Steve and the other Renegades would come after him. Even if Alice and Thomas would stand in his way, he would knock them unconscious and then proceed towards his friends, towards Colette. For now, staying with the Renegades wasn't such a bad thing. They shared a common enemy, so in an indirect way, Dean was working towards one of his goals.

Helping people getting better at fighting, teaching them how to improve was something that Dean was better at than he had expected at first. He wasn't good at giving instructions to big groups of people, he left that to Steve. What Dean was good at, was giving pointers to individuals. He could see how their guard could be improved, if they needed to improve their footwork, if they left themselves open too much or something else in that direction. Even if they were using a weapon Dean wasn't familiar with, he could point out their mistakes and then demonstrate how they could improve. Several times he had been challenged by people to spar with them. Most of those people were those who had seen him fight and were looking forward to fighting a strong opponent. Dean fought with a wooden sword and without his Exsphere, just like Steve had instructed. His opponents did use an Exsphere, but this didn't really put Dean to a disadvantage. Like Steve had explained to him before, most of these soldiers didn't really have much fighting experience. Even without his Exsphere Dean could rely on his experience fighting all kind of opponents. His practice fights with Kratos and Lloyd helped him as well in this regard. After fighting the soldiers Dean could even better point out on which they could improve. He also encouraged them to keep on going. Even after two weeks of training these soldiers he noticed improvements. Some of them challenged him again a week or so later and they had taken up his advice quite well. Dean was satisfied with the overall progress. He also knew that if one of these Renegade soldiers would come across an angel, that they still didn't stand a chance. With this in his mind Dean did not only set his mind on individual progress, but tried to improve the teamwork between the soldiers. He would let a group of four people fight another group of four people. They had to organise their own group themselves, choose a leader and they were allowed to use magic in these mock battles as well, but only basic spells and healing artes. Even if the individuals were strong, they were worthless if they couldn't work well together. They would only get in each other's way and a group that was individually less strong, but had better teamwork, would win from these individual strong teams. Little by little the soldiers were improving on both the individual and the teamwork scale. Dean was satisfied with his work and Steve complimented him on his work.

"Hey, you human! I want you to fight me!" a Renegade said to Dean on the third week since he had started to train the Renegade soldiers. Dean really like the attitude of this Renegade, but he didn't really put any mind to it.

"Could you please wait your turn? These two requested a fight with me first." Dean calmly explained. A male and a female Renegade who liked to work together and always fought together had asked Dean to take them on at the same time. It was an unusual request, but they wanted to test how much their teamwork had improved. They had duty in the afternoon. Today the team fights were going to take place after lunch. Dean didn't really mind the request. Just as the two challengers had gotten back with their wooden weapons, a hand was put on the shoulder of Dean. Dean looked behind his back to see who had put that hand there and it was the other Renegade.

"I don't really think that you got the point, puny human. It was a demand. I am an honourable half-elf Renegade and you should feel pleased that I am willing to test my strength against some human like you." Dean now remembered who this Renegade was. It was the same Renegade that had approached him, Thomas and Alice and told them that he and his two companions had seen those seats first. In a way, he was then demanding that they should move aside for him. Dean turned around to face the Renegade, trying to hide his emotions from this man.

"Do you have a grudge of some sort?" He asked the Renegade. When the man looked confused at him, Dean realised that this half-elf didn't remember him. "Look, I don't really care if you're a half-elf or not and if your of some sort of royal blood or not. These two came to me first. You'll just have to wait patiently until it is your turn. You can't demand anything from me." Dean wanted to leave it at that and wanted to turn around, but he suddenly felt hostility from the man. He apparently wasn't used to get turned down like that. The Renegade drew his weapon, a steel weapon and got into a battle position. Dean was holding a wooden sword in his hand, he had gotten used to carrying one around the entire time he was training the soldiers, because he got challenged almost every hour.

"Don't you know who I am?" the Renegade shouted out. Some of the surrounding soldiers had noticed that something was going on and were now watching the scene that was taking place.

"Like I said before, I don't really care who you are. Please put away your weapon and calm down." Dean was holding back his emotions. This man really infuriating him as the behaviour was way too similar to that of a Desian.

"I am Zylros and I don't take orders from inferior humans like you. Now prepare yourself!" Dean was now pissed off and didn't care that the man was attacking him and that other soldiers were watching him. Zylros attacked with his sword in a careless way. Dean easily dodged the attack, dropped his wooden sword and gave a chop at the throat of the half-elf. Zylros grabbed to his throat, as he was unable to breathe for a short while. In this time Dean swept the man to the floor, used one of his feet to stomp on the wrist of his right hand, which was his sword hand, thus disarming the man effectively. Dean kicked the sword away and stepped back to watch what this Zylros was going to do. The half-elf got back on his feet and looked aggressive at Dean.

"How dare you? How dare you mock me?" Zylros charged at Dean in a wild attempt.

"Thunder Punch!" Dean slammed his fist right in the face of the assaulting half-elf, sending him flying to the ground. As Dean walked closer, the man crawled away.

"Get away from me you monster!" The man was now afraid of Dean, knowing that he was no match for the human he had challenged. Dean also knew that he was once again giving that look full of murderous intent at the man. How this Zylros enraged him! He really wanted to punch some sense into the spoiled half-elf.

"Monster? Me? So I am the monster right now?" Dean was slowly walking closer to the half-elf, while he kept of crawling away from him. "You act all high and mighty, but when things don't go your way, you just crawl away and start calling people monsters. You make me sick. You look down on others and see yourself as a superior being and you think that everyone else should see you that way as well. Just like a Desian. Now, tell me. What makes you different from a Desian when you act the same way as they do? Huh? TELL ME?!"

"Help me!" The man had gotten to his feet and was trying to run away. A lot of spectators had formed a circle around Dean and Zylros and the half-elf was now blocked by the crowd. The crowd didn't want him to run away that easily. Dean just slowly walked towards the man, pulled him back and slammed him in the face as hard as he could, knocking the man out. He then let out a sigh and prepare for a spell. Everyone could see that he was preparing a spell and they were expecting that he would now finish the half-elf off, that he would unleash a spell of destruction. Dean did no such thing.

"First Aid…" Dean healed the unconscious half-elf. Dean then looked all around him and focused his attention to the crowd around him. None of these soldiers had tried to stop him or had tried to stop the fight. It might have been because they were scared of him, but it also might have been because this was some sort of entertainment to them. "Listen up you soldiers!" Dean shouted to the crowd while he was looking around. "I have two things I wish to tell you. The first one is about my past and the second is one of the reasons why we are fighting." Dean shouted to the crowd, making sure everyone could hear him. They needed to hear this. "As you all know or have realised by now, I am a human who is gifted with the power of magic. I was also one of the companions of the Chosen One and I helped her on the road of Regeneration. During that journey I was captured by Desians. I was thrown into a prison, tortured and all sorts of experiments were done on me. That is one of the reasons why I hate Desians. Another big reason why I hate Desians is the way they look down on others. They see themselves as superior beings and the rest as inferior. They don't value the life of humans and treat them like trash. I have been treated that way as well. Now, I know that most of the Desians are half-elves and that most of you too are half-elves. Does that make me hate you too?" People were murmuring and talking to each other right now. "The answer to that question is… No! I do not hate half-elves. I don't really care of your human, half-elf or an elf, but if you see yourself as a superior being and look down on others, then you are no better than our enemy Yggdrasill. Our enemy, the great angel Yggdrasill also looks down on others and sees himself as superior. If you look down on others, you are no different from Yggdrasill himself." Shocked noises were heard from the crowd right now. Dean was making his point and it was having its effect. Dean took a pause and his throat was starting to hurt. He let the people talk to each other for a while. He then clapped his hands three times to get the attention of everyone again. "Now, for one of the reasons why we are fighting. We all know that Yggdrasill is our enemy and that he has to be stopped. But that is not the only reason why I am fighting. What I am fighting against, is discrimination! In Sylvarant humans are treated like trash by the Desians. The humans know that the Desians are half-elves and therefore hate half-elves instantly. The half-elves are casted away by the humans, end up with the Desians and their hate for the humans start to grow even more, eventually making sure that the half-elves look down on the humans. This completes the cycle of hate and only hate will spring forth. I don't know what the situation in Tethe'alla is, but I don't think humans treat half-elves very well. What my goal is, is not only the destruction of the angel Yggdrasill, but the end of discrimination as well. Are you with me?!" Dean asked the crowd. He could feel the emotions of the people and the agreement to his story. The whole crowd cheered when he had asked that final question. Dean smiled and looked around, glad with what he had accomplished. He waited for a little bit until the crowd was done with cheering. "Now I want you to be patient. Continue with your training and grow stronger, not only as an individual, but as a team. Alone we are powerless against the might of Yggdrasill and the angels, but together we are strong. One day we will strike the angels. Until then, we will prepare. Dismissed!" The crowd faded away and Dean waited until most of them were gone. Zylros was still lying on the ground and Dean wasn't sure what to do what the man. In the end, two people came towards Zylros and checked how he was doing. The two of them then approached Dean.

"Please forgive him! We'll try to talk and reason with him and make him understand where he was wrong. He too is a victim of discrimination. Please don't punish him any further." The two were now bowing down to him and they would have kissed the floor of they wanted to.

"Don't worry, I'm not planning on punishing him any further. I am counting on you too to try and reason with him. If he wants to challenge me to a fight again in order to improve, he may do that, but I won't go easy on him if he acts like that again."

"Yes, sir! Thank you, sir!" The two of them then picked up Zylros and carried him away. Dean walked over to the sidelines and sat down. He was tired. The fight and the pep talk to the crowd had drained him. He had always been scared in the past when he needed to do a presentation in front of the class. This time it had felt so natural. He knew it wouldn't be so easy the next time he would try something like that again. Dean watched from a distance how the soldiers were fighting. Some of the soldiers were still talking with each other and weren't training. Normally, Dean would go to those people and get them to work, but this time he didn't mind. The male and female Renegade that had approached him earlier didn't come to him anymore. Dean was glad they hadn't. He wasn't really in a mood for a practice fight. He was glad when it was lunch time. Although the dining hall was full of people, he was glad that he could sit somewhere alone. He could hear the whispering of his speech all around him and he often felt the gaze of numerous people on his back. Halfway his lunch, someone sat in front of him. When he looked up to see who it was, Steve was smiling at him. Dean gave a weak smile back.

"I must say, you keep on impressing me Dean." Steve said with a proud smile on his face. He hadn't been at the training ground that morning. Dean figured he must have heard from a soldier what had happened. "I watched the recording of that speech you gave after the fight with that Zylros guy. It was the finest speech I have ever heard. Do you realise that if you asked those soldiers into a battle that you would likely not win, that all of them would follow you? If Lord Yuan hears this, you'll be able to become a Commander and climb up the ranks in no time." Steve was almost beaming with pride. It was like he had seen Dean as his pupil that kept on growing.

"You and I both know that isn't my objective. I just wanted to let those soldiers know that I don't tolerate discrimination."

"And now they won't do that. Discrimination is something that is really hard to fight against, but you managed to convince every soldier in this base, because that speech will be told to every soldier in this base, that discrimination is our enemy. Everyone will do their best not to judge a person on its race from now on and judge people based on their actions and behaviour."

"That's just the first step of a long journey." Dean said. "Besides, right now I just want to relax for a little bit, before I go back there. I'm not used to stand before a crowd like that you know? It really drains my energy."

"Then I think these following weeks will be hard on you, because everyone will look up to you from now on." Dean didn't expect that his actions would have this kind of effect, but Steve was right. That afternoon just kept on coming over to him and talk with him. Of course Dean talked to everyone and kept smiling and be polite, but after dinner he was glad he could just relax and be alone for a while. He just lay on his bed for a little while as his head felt empty. He was feeling even more tired compared to a whole day of fighting through hordes of enemies at the Tower of Mana. Dean wasn't a born leader. Besides, he just wanted to live a simple life after the world was as it was supposed to be, but he knew he was too tangled up in the whole situation.

"Colette… My love… When will I see you again?" Dean softly asked no one. The door opened at that moment. Alice and Thomas came inside.

"Um… Do you want to be left alone?" Alice asked as she saw how Dean was lying on his bed. Dean hadn't realised it, but tears were flowing down from his face. He wiped down away and smiled at his two friends.

"No, that's alright. I just miss Colette and the others. That's all."

"You know, sometimes I forget that you're one of the companions of the Chosen One of Sylvarant." Alice confessed. "You blend in so well and the people here respect you. It's like you've been here for years instead of almost a month."

"Though I can understand that you miss Colette. I can't stand it when Alice and I are apart as well." Thomas said. Dean smiled at them. These two were his friends as well. He wished that Lloyd and the others weren't on such bad terms as the Renegades. Dean didn't blame them. He had learnt the truth how Lloyd and the others had been treated by Yuan. Dean knew that Kratos was the father of Lloyd, but of course the boy didn't and Yuan hadn't told him as well. Yuan had tried to capture Lloyd by force, but had somehow failed at that and allowed them to escape. Dean knew that Yuan was still keeping a close eye on Lloyd and the others.

"We've come to tell you that Lord Yuan will be back here in a couple of days. I thought you wanted to know that."

"He's finally coming back?" Dean sighed out of relief. "Thank the Goddess."

"I didn't expect you to say something like that?" Thomas said surprised.

"Something like that?" Dean asked confused.

"You know. Thank the Goddess."

"Oh, that. It's just a matter of saying things. There is nothing behind it."

"We've also come to tell you that we've got new orders. In three days we will be going on another mission."

"I see. I hope that I'll be gone from this base as well. It's going to get lonely without you guys."

"Well, you always got Steve. The general and you seem to get along just fine."

"Yeah, he's fun to hang out with as well. Still, now that everyone will keep looking at me with some new kind of respect, it's hard to have a normal conversation with anyone." Dean sighed again. "It's tiring to go on like this. Just let me travel around the world, fighting monsters, trying to save the world."

"Don't you want to be a leader?" Thomas asked, half curious, half joking around.

"Me? A leader? Don't assume that's a good role for me. I just know how to fight and am good at pointing out the weak points in the way someone is fighting. That speech was one of a kind and I'm planning on not giving another speech for the rest of my life."

"If you say so." Dean didn't know what to think of that remark. He was going to get reunited with his friends, they were going to cure Colette, grow stronger together and find a way how to defeat Yggdrasill. After the world was regenerated, Dean wanted to travel around and put an end to the discrimination. After that, he would settle back in some small village and start a family with Colette. Starting a family in Iselia didn't sound bad. Dean smiled at that thought. Seeing how he was, Thomas and Alice bid him goodbye. Dean quickly fell into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Yep, Dean still isn't reunited with the others, but he will be shortly. I promise that. Just what Yuan has in store for him and if Dean will be able to break away entirely from the Renegades is the question. Just wait patiently for the next chapter to find out.<strong>

**Btw... Reviews are welcome, even from grammar nazi's. Until next time~**


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